Adding a chat widget to your website is a quick and simple way to provide a social element for your users, without managing a complex forum or starting a corporate blog. On the other hand, perhaps you’re a blogger and you just want to give your users a way to interact with one another in real time, independent of specific post topics. Either way, here are a couple of options for you:
Cbox – This chat widget functions similarly to a message board because it doesn’t dynamically refresh within the page (unless you purchase the premium version). While this may seem like a drawback, it could be to your advantage if you’re looking for something a little less instantaneous.
Chatango – This allows you to chat directly with individuals you select as “friends” or with a group. The messages are instantaneous and users can even use colors or styles in their text.
If you’re already using a different chat widget on your site, post a link in the comments, I’d love to see what other options are out there.
3 Comments
I tried the widgets from Gtalk and Digsby. The first one is rather difficult to use, as it’s actually just a link and you have to open a new window, as far as I remember. Digsby is a little better, but I have to use their IM client to receive the messages, which is kind of a drawback for me right now.
Anyway, I’m not what you might call a “blogger”, I’m just playing around for now. Maybe I should try to become famous first :P
Wait, I think I got it wrong… You were talking about chat, not instant messeges…
Well, whatever… just ignore me
I kinda thought this looked cool: http://www.ajaxim.com/ but none of them really work quite right for my purposes I don’t think, so I’ll probably end up either heavily customizing one or writing my own…