I was looking for an easy way to add chat to oneRhino.com. It's a good way to connect with folks who want to ask you a question anonymously.
My requirements were...
- a chat widget that easily integrates into the website
- no popups redirecting to a third party website
- no login required for the visitor
- a simple, clean widget interface
- on the admin side - it should work with my current chat client, Pidgin. In other words, I won't need any new applications installed and running for it work.
- the widget should display my status as "online" while online.
- works with linux (this example happens to work with Windows too).
Happily I may have found a fix :). It's called meebome, a widget from meebo. I just set this up, so we'll see if it stands the test of time. I won't go into every detail about the setup, but here is a general basic step-by-step...
1. Sign up with meebome.com
2. Paste the meebo widget into your website
Once signed up, meebo will display the code for your "widget".
Copy this code and paste it into your website. If you are wondering "how do I do that?", well it depends on how your website is setup, and well that's beyond the scope of this article :-).
An example of what the widget looks like embedded in a website...
How will you know when someone starts a chat with you? Well you could log into meebo and keep the meebo page open all day, every day. Ugh! Or you could integrate meebo into your current chat client (better!). We'll use Pidgin for this example. Like other advanced chat clients such as Digsby, it handles msn, yahoo, google talk and more.
3. Install Meebo plugin for Pidgin
Assuming you already have Pidgin installed, download the Meebo plugin for Pidgin here - http://jrpomeroy.com/pidgin/ (scroll to the bottom for download links). Place the downloaded file in "C:\Program Files\Pidgin\plugins" for Windows or "/usr/lib/purple-2" for 32 bit Ubuntu.
4. Activate Meebo Plugin for Pidgin
Open Pidgin or restart if it was already open. Then go to "tools -> plugins" and activate the Meebo plugin.
5. Configure your Meebo account in Pidgin
In Pidgin select "accounts -> manage accounts". Click the "add" button and add your new Meebo credentials and save:
That's it! Whenever you have Pidgin on someone visiting your website can IM you through the Meebo widget on your website. Instant feedback for clients.
Of course there are other approaches. Chatroll has a widget similar to meebo's, and I've heard good things about Digsby as a chat client.
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