Get your own SigChat!

[Torch]

Well, since a lot of people liked it since I first showed it off about a year ago, I made it now possible for everyone to have their own SigChat!
Visit http://sigchat.torchsdomain.com for all info.
There aren't many styles ATM, but if it catches on, I will be making more and also adding new features.

Any comments and feedback is apriciated

 

[ƒorte]

Torch, I'm a big fan of this sigchat you've made. I think you should sell it to a major corporation though. If you could edit it for censors, every forum site would use it.

Thanks for offering it for free! ^__^

 

[Cynical]

Torch, I'm a big fan of this sigchat you've made. I think you should sell it to a major corporation though. If you could edit it for censors, every forum site would use it.

Thanks for offering it for free! ^__^

It's cool, but I don't think any corporation would buy it because 1) it has been done before and 2) aside some of the graphical work it is fairly easy.

I'm going to skip on one for now, but it's kind of you to offer this service without charging people points or anything!

 

[The_Magistrate]

Quick question... any reason why all the images have to be 440x138 px?

If you're up for it, SigChat would be a cool project to post on Sourceforge or another opensource site. You could probably get more exposure there, and it would be pretty nifty to put on a resume.

 

[Torch]

Well, no particular reason why it's exactly 440x138, but the smaller they are less bandwidth is used and also will load faster on slower connections. I found out that ~7 messages all with about 60 chars on sig of size 600x200 (which was original size when I first finished the script), even when jpeg output quality was 80 (any lower garbles image too much), image was about 100-150KB. So I had to cut down where ever I could, without losing readability and quality.

Anyway, I'm currently building an admin panel for users where they will be able to delete messages, change styles and other SigChat options. I'll be also adding the possibility for you to use your own custom images for SigChat.

As for putting it to SourceForge...that might be good idea some time in future. I could also pot some of my other projects like OneFile Forum (It's a complete and simple forum system in just one file. Looks like a crossover between PHPBB and EasyForum. Not sure of it's usability but might be nice if you don't want to upload hundreds of files when using advanced forums. Also template editing isn't very user friendly ATM, so I need to work that out too.) or AIE (AjaxImageEditor. It's an online image editor. Still in early development but currently can open one image, import another and than you drag it and place where you want on the first image than output newly created image, also you can choose font and color for text and as you write images of letters are instantly generated without the need to click submit or something like that on similar systems.).

 

[Torch]

Just a little update...

I made a few more features for SigChat. Now, if you are the owner of SigChat, no one except yourself can post with your name (password is required). Also, I've putten flood control, so you can only post 2 messages in a row before someone else makes a post.
Bigger feature is SigPanel, admin panel for your sig. There you can currently delete posts, get codes for putting your SigChat on sites and preview your sig. In the next few days I'll add possibility for you to change sig style, password, color of text in your sig, get stats (like total number of posts, from which country are most posters, how many hits does it get etc.) and even extend functionality of it to real simple chat system.
More styles will also be added as well as ones in different sizes (without header, square-like).

 

[foggysmoke]

It's a neat idea. Good job on the implementation so far.
A couple of things that I think would make it more user friendly is:

-Maybe some javascript to make the password field only appear if the owner’s username is put in the name. (Might cut down on some confusion)
-It might be a good idea to show the sigchat image on the page where you can add your comments so you don't have to constantly be flipping back and forth.
-Eventually, users might find it good to be able to customize the style (font color, background) of the "Post message" page. This isn't really urgent, though.

These are only my suggestions. Take them with a grain of salt

Good Luck,
foggysmoke

 

[cyberxzt]

It's a neat idea. Good job on the implementation so far.
A couple of things that I think would make it more user friendly is:

-Maybe some javascript to make the password field only appear if the owner’s username is put in the name. (Might cut down on some confusion)
-It might be a good idea to show the sigchat image on the page where you can add your comments so you don't have to constantly be flipping back and forth.
-Eventually, users might find it good to be able to customize the style (font color, background) of the "Post message" page. This isn't really urgent, though.

These are only my suggestions. Take them with a grain of salt

Good Luck,
foggysmoke

Now those are things id like to see!

 

[Torch]

- Javascript password showing is already in production
- Unified page with Sig and comment also in production (as well as Sig directory, where all sigs on server are shown)
- And customization is thing I'm also working on, eg. when it's done you'll not only be able to change your post page, but also Sig page (unified page mentioned above), color of text in your sig, put announcement in your sig and Sig page, have top 3 sites where you use the sig shown on Sig page (either leave it automatic (http_referer) or you can enter manually) and much more...

 

[cyberxzt]

- Javascript password showing is already in production
- Unified page with Sig and comment also in production (as well as Sig directory, where all sigs on server are shown)
- And customization is thing I'm also working on, eg. when it's done you'll not only be able to change your post page, but also Sig page (unified page mentioned above), color of text in your sig, put announcement in your sig and Sig page, have top 3 sites where you use the sig shown on Sig page (either leave it automatic (http_referer) or you can enter manually) and much more...

will you be activateing the sigs now!?!?

 

[Torch]

Yes, but as you see, HTTP on x10 servers is currently down

 

[cyberxzt]

thanks for activating, if you want to reduce bandwith limits, ill allow you an ftp account for mine, http://zinetech.x10hosting.com/ maybee just to store some

 

[azntechguy]

Wow, Sigchat looks cool!

As much as I'd like to have one as well, I'll forgo for now. The image size is a bit too big for me. I've been making my image and signatures around the rules of one of the forums that I've been a longtime member of and applied it uniformly to every forum for 6 years now. I don't feel like breaking that tradition now.

 

[Torch]

Yeah, I'll be making compact sigs, of like max 60-100x200-350, for forums that don't allow large images. Also, I got around to do that post page customizations, so that people starting from tommorow, will be able to change bg color, font and and add header image (I'll have to reconsider that one).

BTW, it would be a great help if you could help me promote SigChat by digging it on Digg.com - http://digg.com/links/SigChat_Service - or if you have you a site, but don't use SigChat and would like to promote, put a link to www.sigchatservice.com (I'll add link back to you after I finish SigPromotion page).

 

[Torch]

Just to give you an update, I've finished the posting page customization system, so now SigChat owners can change background color, font of text and put links to sites where their Sig is mostly used, on posting page.

In addition to normal daily updates, there are some smaller surprise background updates, which will be activated one by one each day or two