Horseman's Chat Help Our chat system is almost entirely server based which means our system is as compatible as a chat system can be! Virtually all browsers since 1995 support frames which our system requires. In addition a very small amount of JavaScript is used so your experience will be better if your browser supports this (as almost all browsers do). While the system should work with all browsers, all chat systems require a fairly stable Internet connection so users with unreliable and very slow net connections may have difficulty using the system. The chat system has many features beyond just the basic messaging feature - most designed to let you configure your chat experience so that it works best for you. You can adjust your chat refresh settings, font size and the number of lines you wish to view easily. Also, a private chat mechanism is provided so that you can have one-on-one sessions with other chat system users. Checking Room Status: It's no fun to be in a chat room all alone so we have prominently displayed status boards that you can refer to before logging in. We also offer a Remote Chat Monitor that is basically just a small window you can leave open while you are viewing other pages or even working in another program that will help you monitor room status. All open rooms are displayed with the current number of occupants highlighted in red. It is possible that room status may be limited. This limitation is not reflected in the Room Status or Remote Chat Monitor displays. Logging In: To login to the chat system just click on any of our Login to Chat links from the Live Chat Rooms section of the site. You will then see a screen similar to the one below: The Components of the Chat System: 1. Header pane. No user interaction occurs in this pane. Banners will be reloaded periodically. 4. User pane. This pane shows the list of users currently in that particular chat room. 2. Message pane. This is where text you and other users type will appear. 5. Options pane. Here you can control various chat system settings as well as view help files and various other content. 3. Talk pane. This is where you type your messages to be posted. 6. Clock pane. This will show you the current date and time and will also be used to display personal chat requests. Setting Chat Options:   Most users will want (or need) to tune the chat system settings for their Internet connection and computer. This can be done easily from the Options pane. In addition you will use this pane to change chat rooms or logout when you are through. You also can select other chat options such as this help file, our chat rules, chat transcript and other available content. Lines: this refers to the number of lines shown in the message and private message chat windows. 20 lines is the default setting but if you have a slow connection or a small screen size you may wish to set this lower. Conversely, you may set this higher if you have a strong Internet connection and a large browser window. Refresh: This is the number of seconds the system will wait before reloading the message window and displaying new posts. The default setting is 20 seconds which we have found works well with most modem connections. If you have a high-speed connection you may wish to lower this to 10 seconds. If you have an especially slow connection then set the refresh interval higher. You may need to experiment to find your best settings. When you have selected your Lines and Refresh settings click on "Set" to make the changes. It may take one entire refresh cycle for your settings to be evident. Change Room: if you wish to leave the current room and re-login to this or another room simply click on "Change Room". Logout: when you wish to leave the chat system please click on "Logout". This will reflect your absence quickly to other occupants of the room. After a few minutes of inactivity you would have been cleared anyway, but this is the most courteous way of leaving. Option: This is essentially a navigation menu within the chat system. To navigate to a particular option make your selection from the pulldown menu and click on "Go". You may select from the following options: Chat : this is the standard chat window. Use this option to return to this screen from other navigation options. Private Chat: this will open the Private Chat pane within your current chat pane. Private Chat is discussed later on in this document. Options: this is where you may set your desired font size and indicate if you do not wish to be bothered with Private Chat requests. If you do not wish to be visible in the private chat menus of other users check the box "Don't Allow Private Chat?". You may select from 3 font sizes in the "Message Font Size" menu. When you have made your choices click on "Set Options" to save them. Transcript: Each day the transcript of the entire days activities in the current room are cleared (in the middle of the night). If you select this option you will see in the message pane all of the posts from the current day. Help: show this document. Rules: show the chat rules for this site. The User Pane: The User pane contains the list of users in the current chat room. Also, the time the user logged in to the chat system is recorded. Your name should be highlighted in this list. If the user provided their Email address then clicking on the username will open a mail link to that user. As users come and go this list is maintained automatically. The Talk Pane: At the bottom of the screen you should see the Talk pane. This pane is always available - no matter what chat mode you are in. Simply type your message in the box and click "Say It!" to post your message. Your message will often exceed the visible size of the box but that's OK - it will scroll with you up to a certain point at which it will no longer let you type any more content. Avoid using special characters that some browsers may struggle with. Also, note that HTML is filtered and so should not be used. Private Chat: Private Chat is essentially a chat system within a chat system. Users that have not disabled private chat can be messaged individually in one-on-one sessions. While it is possible to carry on more than one of these at a time only one can be viewed at a time. To enter Private Chat simply select it from the Option: menu and click "Go". Now you will see a new, smaller chat Message pane, a User Select pane and a new Talk pane open up within your existing Message pane. To let another user know that you wish to chat privately, select their username in the User Select pane and click "Invite". This will inform them via a bright red message that replaces the Clock pane that someone wishes to chat privately. When the click on that request link it will open the Private Chat panes and give them the option to "Chat" or "Ignore" the request. Selecting either will make the Private Chat Request link go away. If the other user selects "Chat" then you may begin typing in the Private Chat Talk pane just as you would in the public system. If you have already chatted with another user in this chat session you can go to that session by selecting their username from the User Select pane and clicking "Chat". Your most recent Private Chat user will be indicated by a "*" before their username in the User pane. When you wish to return to the standard public chat pane just select "Chat" from the Option pane and click on "Go".

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