How To Add Flash Chat
Website interactivity is an increasingly essential part of running a website. Integrating a chat room into your site engages visitors, offering them a "voice" in your web community and ensuring that they stay on your site longer. Businesses, forums and hobby websites can all benefit from adding a chat room.
Flash Chat is a customizable PHP/MySQL program that allows you to add a chat room to any website. It can be used for a variety of applications, including customer service, tech support and socializing.
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Instructions
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Create a "chat" subfolder in the root directory of your website's server. Add a folder using FTP software or transfer an empty folder named "chat" from your hard drive to the web server via FTP.
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Upload Flash Chat onto your web server. Place the entire application folder in the "chat" directory. Do not alter the directory structure; copy and paste the entire Flash Chat folder onto the server.
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Open the Flash Chat installer in your web browser. This file is located in the "chat" directory you just created. Enter the full URL: http://www.[yourwebsite.com]/chat/installer.php.
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Follow the on-screen instructions. The Flash Chat installer will ask you what content management system (CMS) you're using and prompt you for your MySQL login. With this information, the installer will automatically create the database folders and install the Flash Chat application on your web server.
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Test your Flash Chat installation. Follow the URL provided on the confirmation screen. This is usually: http://www.[yourwebsite.com]/chat/flashchat.php. If you are using an older version of Flash Chat, the chat URL may be different.
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Enter your Flash Chat login details. This is the same username and password as your CMS. The chat window will now load your account as an administrator for the chat room.
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Enter a test message. Type your message and click "Submit." Your message will appear in the chat room immediately. You can also experiment with the pre-installed emoticons and set up other chat room preferences such as fonts and colors.
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Tips & Warnings
Before you begin, make sure that your web host supports PHP/MySQL and that you are using a PHP/MySQL-based CMS.
Contact your site administrator or your web host if you do not know your MySQL or CMS login details.
Different versions of Flash Chat may have different installer and chat room filenames. However, the filenames are intuitive (for example, "install.php" or "config.php" instead of "installer.php"; "chat.php" instead of "flashchat.php").
Don't forget to add a link to your chat room on your site. You can do this manually or use a web design program such as Dreamweaver.
References
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