Is anyone using chat in a block?

[Jerri Blank]

I have a board with a default layout of a forum in the middle and 200px-wide blocks on either side.  One of those blocks is the Shoutbox.  My users, of course, are using it as a chat and are frustrated that it doesn't auth-refresh or behave more like a chat.

Has anyone successfully implemented real-time chat in a small block?  I tried flashchat, and I got it running in a block, but it needs more horizontal space than my blocks have.

Any other solutions would be greatly appreciated.  The Shoutbox is what keeps my users around, so anything I can do to improve that experience is good.

Thanks,

jb

[G6Cad]

I havent seen any site have the chats in a block to the right/left, the chats are somewhat to big to fit in that small width, also i think it would be really hard to actually be able to follow a chat in such small window, the text tend to be pretty high if you look at a shoutbox if some one writes a more then one phrase in there.

[akulion]

u may want to check out some custom shoutboxes if u require with the auto refresh function

there are loads of free ones available here is a fre one which u can install on ur own server and run

[Jerri Blank]

Thanks - I'll look into those...



jb

[gerrymo]

I use Flashchat, but launch it in a Popup, so people can still read the rest of the site whilst chatting. Its the only solution IMO.

[Jerri Blank]

I got Shoutbox Pro running pretty well on mine.



jb