When you visit the ThugLife Chat webpage
and your browser supports Java you will see the chat window. Click on the Chat Now! button,
enter your user name (other fields are not required) and click OK. You are in the chat
room. After you have entered a room from the Login Window or via direct login, you will see
the main chat interface. This is where you will see chat messages going through the chat room.
You will also use it to chat with other users in the room.
Main Interface
The components of the chat interface are described in the table below.
Chat Text Area - The text area where chat and system messages are displayed.
Text Input Area - Enter your chat message here. To enter a multi-line message,
press Shift-Enter or Ctrl-Enter to go to the next line. To scroll through previous messages that
you have keyed in, press Ctrl-Up or Ctrl-Down.
There are 4 function panels, you may not see all of them on the interface
as it depends on how your administrator has customized the client.
You can click on the arrow on the right-side of a panel's tab to float
the function panel. Once a function panel is floated, you can dock it
again by closing the window, i.e. clicking the Close Window icon
on the window's title bar.
Banner - Rotating banner ads.
Toolbar, Userbar, Expression - See following table.
Send - Send the message in the chat input area. You can also send it by hitting
Enter when typing in it.
Leave - Leave the current room. If you are only in one room, this is the same as logging out.
This button may not appear if your administrator has disabled the multi-room feature.
Toolbar / Userbar / Expression Bar
You may not see some of the buttons (or even the whole button bar), depending
on the client customization.
Toolbar
Connect / Logout - Connect to the chat server if the user has logged out. Logs out the user
if the user is connected.
Float - Float the chat interface as a separate window from the browser. A depressed button indicates
that the interface is currently floated. Please note that even when the chat interface is floated, you cannot close
the applet's browser window. Doing so will cause the applet to shutdown and it will log you out of the chat system.
Help - Opens a browser window to display client's help documentation.
Userbar
Private - Initiate a private chat session with another user.
Info - Obtain another user's profile.
Ignore - Ignore a selected user so that all messages from that user are not displayed. A user ignored
by you will have an ignored icon displayed beside his avatar.
Expression Bar
Bold - Insert bold tags or wrap selected text with tags.
Italicize - Insert italics tags wrap selected text with tags.
URL - Open insert URL dialog.
Emoticon - Open emoticon window.
Send Audio - List of audio messages that you can send.
Online Status - Set your status to "Online" or "Away".
Clear - Clear the chat text area.
Transcript - Open the Transcript window which contains all the messages received during
this chat session. You can use the Transcript window to copy-and-paste the text in the chat session and
save it to your computer's hard disk.
Function Panel 1: Users
The Users function panel displays the other users in the same room as
the user. The userbar will only be enabled when another user, excluding yourself, is selected.
Function Panel 2: Rooms
The Rooms panel allows you to change to other rooms in the chat site.
It also shows users in other chat rooms. You can also use it to create your
own room. The room list will only show public rooms. Private rooms are not displayed.
To view the list of users in another room, simply select the room from the
room list.
Go To Room - Try to go to another room. The room will be checked for any password-protection
it may have and whether the user has access rights to the room. If your administrator has enabled the multi-room
feature, you will go to the new room while still retaining your presence in your current room(s).
Refresh All - Get an update of the room listing.
Private Room… - Try to go to a private room. Since you cannot see the list of private rooms,
you will have to know the name of the private room which you want to enter.
Create Create either a public room or a private one. You can protect your public rooms with a
password. Private rooms do not need passwords since they are not visible to other users unless you explicitly
inform them. The Create Room dialog is shown below.
Do note that rooms created by users may or may not be persistent (i.e. saved for future sessions). Your rooms will
only be saved if you have logged in as a member and your Chat Administrator has enabled the saving of user-created rooms.
Otherwise, your rooms will be deleted once you logout, even though you may not have deleted them prior to logging out.
If you go to other rooms, your rooms will still remain.
Delete - Delete a room you have created. Do note that all users within the room will be purged, including
yourself, if you are in the affected room.
Function Panel 3: Options
In the Options panel, you can change your preferred text properties. Types of messages can have different colors
but font size is applied to all message types. Audio alerts can also be modified or set. If you have logged in as a member,
these settings are stored to a database and will be retrieved the next time you login again.
You can also choose your set of audio alerts.
Text Properties - You can change your preferred text properties here. Types of messages can have
different colors but font size is applied to all message types.
Reject Private Chat - Automatically reject all incoming requests for private chat sessions. Current
private chat sessions can still continue.
Lock User Selection - Prevent the User List from returning to an unselected state. If this is enabled, you
can keep on whispering to another user without having to repeatedly click on his name.
Disable Audio - Do not play received audio messages. However, you can still send them.
Smart Replace - Automatically detect and replace URLs and emoticons.
Hide avatars - Do not display avatar images with text messages in the chat area.
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