Let's test a new Chat Room today!

[Robin Garr]

I found a fairly robust looking little chat room that we can rent for an almost nominal amount (under $10 per month), so just for the halibut, let's try it today!

We'll have the formal session in about two hours from now - 4 p.m. US EDT, 1 p.m. Pacific, 2000 GMT - but if you'd like to audition the system and start picking nits, please feel free to log in at any time. Click the link below, and when you get to the entry page, just enter whatever user name you would like.

WLDG Chat Room for testing

[Robin Garr]

Chat's on! C'mon in ...

Well done. It looks pretty good to me.

Pretty nice, Robin. I like the who is typing feature. Thanks for the experiment. But -- is it fair to the folks at Netscape?

Clean and simple -- seems fine for all levels of computer users.

[Robin Garr]

Pretty nice, Robin. I like the who is typing feature. Thanks for the experiment. But -- is it fair to the folks at Netscape?

Sure, Bob. It's not really related. Just out of curiosity, though, if you doubted that, would it have been most prudent to mention it in public?

Sorry.

Randy says.."looks simple for all computer users". `cus me!!! I for one had no idea what to do once I entered a user name ie albertabob. Maybe as it is 6pm MT right now I missed the connection or whatever.
Where`s Bob H when I need him!!

I missed Sunday chat (as usual - the time is tough for me), but I went over to visit and the new format looks functional and good.

Good job!

Randy says.."looks simple for all computer users". `cus me!!! I for one had no idea what to do once I entered a user name ie albertabob.

I said computer users, not people who keep their head stuck in oil sand. The talk probably quit around 3 p.m. MT. You missed dinner again....

How does one start in this forum and end up in the other? I dunno, but I did it, anyway ...

I thought that little chat room was kinda neat, especially the sound bytes with which I amused myself in my hotel room.

Is this something that'll be open all the time so we can drop in and maybe bump into a fellow-traveller? I think I'd like that since I'm seldom around for the regular chat sessions.

Bob, once you entered your username wasn't there a button with the work connect on it? if not then yours is different than mine. If so, then click on connect and your computer should bring up a program known as Java, which shows a cup of coffee while it is starting. after that is started your chat window should appear, sorta like magic. You then type in the little yellow window at the bottom of the chat window and either hit send with your mouse or enter on your keyboard and you are chatting. you have my email address so ask away if you have any more problems.

[Robin Garr]

Is this something that'll be open all the time so we can drop in and maybe bump into a fellow-traveller? I think I'd like that since I'm seldom around for the regular chat sessions.

Gary, barring unforseen events (like hackers or pirates taking it over), I'll plan to leave the Chat Room open all the time. Eventually, assuming we decide to keep it, as it looks like we will, I'll try to figure a way to integrate it more clearly into the forum so there'll be a handy button.

In the meantime, what I have done is to drag the link to my personal toolbar in Firefox. I dropped it right beside the button for your home page. So all I do is click on chat in the toolbar and am taken straight to the chatroom. Actually I am taken straigth to Java and then to chat.I like the new place and it seems that alll who came in yesterday share my thoughts on it.

Robin, the new chat room gets my vote. There are so many features that we've missed (or never had) like cutting and pasting into the message, or the clickable link and of course, the "kids" had fun with the new sound effects.
Good job, RG!
JuliaB

[Robin Garr]

In the meantime, what I have done is to drag the link to my personal toolbar in Firefox. I dropped it right beside the button for your home page. So all I do is click on chat in the toolbar and am taken straight to the chatroom. Actually I am taken straigth to Java and then to chat.I like the new place and it seems that alll who came in yesterday share my thoughts on it.

Bookmarking the chat room is a good option, Bob, but once we settle on it for sure, I'll still put a button in the forum just to make it handy. I remember seeing yesterday when I was setting it up that they offer some features to "integrate" it with a PhpBB forum, but I'll need to learn more about that.

[Robin Garr]

Robin, the new chat room gets my vote. There are so many features that we've missed (or never had) like cutting and pasting into the message, or the clickable link and of course, the "kids" had fun with the new sound effects.

Thanks for the vote, JB!

I think we all agree that this is the best chat room yet, and surprisingly, it's not nearly as expensive as the one we had before Netscape. My only concern is that we give the new one plenty of use for a few weeks before making an absolute commitment to it, and make sure there aren't any undiscovered bugs. The real deal-breaker on the old one for me was the way that it constantly bounced people out and often the whole server would go down and take the room unavailable. And especially considering that, it was way too expensive for me to operate. This one is quite reasonable at the current level, and they have an "upgrade" with even more bells and whistles, but I'm not sure it's worth it for us.

Randy says.."looks simple for all computer users". `cus me!!! I for one had no idea what to do once I entered a user name ie albertabob. Maybe as it is 6pm MT right now I missed the connection or whatever.
Where`s Bob H when I need him!!

Bob,
if you have no idea what to do once you have entered, then click on the Help option on the top menu. That is assuming you the Java window came up, as Bob H explained.
Cheers,
Sue

An excellent new chat room, indeed. Thanks Robin! And a very good turn-out for the first trial run, too.

Looking forward to doing it all again next week.

An excellent new chat room, indeed. Thanks Robin.

Hear, hear!

Yes, a nice chat room.

Bob H, what's all this talk about Java and coffee cups? Buy a Mac and you don't have to go through that nonsense

Thomas, I knew a guy named Mac once, and he didn't put up with any nonsense either!