Hi! The Chat has been gated off in it's own little space, on it's own little page for a while now. We did that because we figured that's how our members wanted it. Just like the old site. The thing is, the Shoutbox has been getting more traffic and life than the chat. So, we're thinking of changing something. As standard, the chat is able to sit on the site at the bottom of the screen. It'll stay put, allowing you access to the chat while you look around. Much like the Facebook style of chat bar. We figured that if it's more within reach, it would be more used. Like the Shoutbox, which is nice for short messages and shoutouts but not conversations, really. Would you use the chat if we allowed it to follow you around? Let us know.
would we be able to use it on mobile? and would we be able to hide it? other than those two questions, im all for it
No. There's already Conversations for that sort of thing. It's a Javascript system running on rather rudimentary but well established web technologies. We'd have to check on that but I can't imagine it would be a problem to run on a tablet or a decent phone. Hiding the thing ought to be as simple as just not clicking on it and letting it sit there at the bottom of the screen. Not sure. We'd have to fiddle with it as this is an uncharted thing for us. I'll warn you when we try adding it to the site. As for an Everypony App? That's still heavily on the backburner, simply because we haven't got the time right now to wade through Xenforo API then try to figure out how to get the server to talk to an Android app. Though, that still sounds like fun so sign us up for when we've sorted out some of the bits and pieces for the site.
Sounds like a good idea. More members would probably notice it which means more activity there. (I still miss the AJAX chat, though. I liked how I could temporarily change my username on there. It was fun.)
Sounds nice to have the chat on every page, that way it would probably get more activity! Linking to IRC would be awesome IMO, though
I like this idea, also, I want to point out, maybe changing the chat sound to something more noticeable would be nice because I can't even hear the sound, then I normally forget about the chat.
