Parachat chat room replacement
Posted: Mon Sep 16, 2013 7:45 pm
Perhaps a separate thread on this subject will get a better response to the problems some people seem to be having with the software. So some observations:
I had this thread all ready to hit Submit on just now and I must have done summit stupid and lost it all. Grrrr. So here goes again.
Firstly, my environment. Windows 7 Home Premium (up to date with patches), Firefox v23.0.1 (will probably be v24 soon), Java 7 Update 40 (I found I was using Java 7 Update 25, so have just updated this). Go to Control Panel / Java / About to find out what version you are using. Click the Update tab to update it. I have also tested Google Chrome v29.
Some questions:
1. Robin, what makes you say that Parachat has got buggy recently? What version of Parachat are you running on the server and is it compatible with the version of phpBB that you have? What version of phpBB are you running? Are there any installation parameters for Parachat that can be tweaked? The Parachat Facebook page looks like it is updated frequently so I would not expect a company that has been around for 7 years to release buggy software. Anyone that does this does not stay in business long. https://www.facebook.com/ParaChat
2. Some say that AdBlock Plus add-on causes problems. I am running v2.3.2 of this and have never had a problem. A "must have" as far as I am concerned, for Firefox and Chrome and Safari. I don't know if they do a version for IE. It blocks most ads and reduces your bandwidth significantly (I have no figures for this but running a browser without it significantly slows response time as it loads the flashy adverts that I can do without. Some people say that this is stealing money off the advertisers, but I could not give a toss about this.)
3. I have suggested that Google+ Hangouts might be worth a try but James has said that this is probably not a goer. Why did you say this James? If anyone uses Google+ and wants to try it out send me a PM/email and we can figure out a convenient time to try it out.
4. What environment are you all running? Please report your OS, browser name and version and Java version. Whether or not you are having problems. Maybe we can pin it down to a particular set of OS/Browser version etc.
In my personal opinion I suspect that the source of most of the problems that are being encountered is the lousy bit of software that Micro$oft calls Internet Explorer. It is so hard to use that I gave up trying to figure out how to get it to run Parachat to try and help Jenise with her chat problems. And I like to think I know my way around a computer. This was in IE 8. IE 9/10 might be different, but for some reason MS Update will not allow me to update to IE 9.
My suggestion (still) for those that are having problems (with IE) is to install Firefox (www.mozilla.org), Google Chrome (www.chrome.com), or Apple Safari. Even if it is only used for Chat. I think Chrome and Safari in particular are being used in place of IE more and more recently. Firefox is also loosing ground as a lot of people think that Firefox performance is lagging behind C & S. Current versions do not have this problem in my experience.
If you have managed to read this far without your brain turning to mush, congratulations. I await your feedback.
I had this thread all ready to hit Submit on just now and I must have done summit stupid and lost it all. Grrrr. So here goes again.
Firstly, my environment. Windows 7 Home Premium (up to date with patches), Firefox v23.0.1 (will probably be v24 soon), Java 7 Update 40 (I found I was using Java 7 Update 25, so have just updated this). Go to Control Panel / Java / About to find out what version you are using. Click the Update tab to update it. I have also tested Google Chrome v29.
Some questions:
1. Robin, what makes you say that Parachat has got buggy recently? What version of Parachat are you running on the server and is it compatible with the version of phpBB that you have? What version of phpBB are you running? Are there any installation parameters for Parachat that can be tweaked? The Parachat Facebook page looks like it is updated frequently so I would not expect a company that has been around for 7 years to release buggy software. Anyone that does this does not stay in business long. https://www.facebook.com/ParaChat
2. Some say that AdBlock Plus add-on causes problems. I am running v2.3.2 of this and have never had a problem. A "must have" as far as I am concerned, for Firefox and Chrome and Safari. I don't know if they do a version for IE. It blocks most ads and reduces your bandwidth significantly (I have no figures for this but running a browser without it significantly slows response time as it loads the flashy adverts that I can do without. Some people say that this is stealing money off the advertisers, but I could not give a toss about this.)
3. I have suggested that Google+ Hangouts might be worth a try but James has said that this is probably not a goer. Why did you say this James? If anyone uses Google+ and wants to try it out send me a PM/email and we can figure out a convenient time to try it out.
4. What environment are you all running? Please report your OS, browser name and version and Java version. Whether or not you are having problems. Maybe we can pin it down to a particular set of OS/Browser version etc.
In my personal opinion I suspect that the source of most of the problems that are being encountered is the lousy bit of software that Micro$oft calls Internet Explorer. It is so hard to use that I gave up trying to figure out how to get it to run Parachat to try and help Jenise with her chat problems. And I like to think I know my way around a computer. This was in IE 8. IE 9/10 might be different, but for some reason MS Update will not allow me to update to IE 9.
My suggestion (still) for those that are having problems (with IE) is to install Firefox (www.mozilla.org), Google Chrome (www.chrome.com), or Apple Safari. Even if it is only used for Chat. I think Chrome and Safari in particular are being used in place of IE more and more recently. Firefox is also loosing ground as a lot of people think that Firefox performance is lagging behind C & S. Current versions do not have this problem in my experience.
If you have managed to read this far without your brain turning to mush, congratulations. I await your feedback.