havChat^TM is a commercial chat server application and includes several chat applet clients. Below is a comparison chart of features in versions 1, 2 and 3.x (the current version)..

You can try any or all of the online demo applets and rooms HERE or using various links which follow the chart.

Features of the havChat Clients	Ver. 1.x	Ver. 2.x	Ver. 3.0
Right-to-Left Character display for languages such as Hebrew or Arabic. Default display is Left-to_Right but applet parameter can be used to change default to Right-to-Left. Chatters can also use the /RTL and /LTR commands to toggle the display direction. NOTE: Only available in the Multi Color text applets and depends on your browser/JVM capability to display alternative character sets. Native Java TextArea display applets will either align or not based on the platform's TextArea implementation.	NO	NO	YES (3.3+)
Improved support for emailing transcripts of private chats (customer Support type chats).	NO	NO	YES (3.3+)
Allows inline javascript code as the URL for both push and pop actions. Nice when you want to have a little javascript executed on the receiver's box -- for example, to popup a Media Player video in a separate window or some such thing.	NO	NO	YES (3.3+)
Instant Messages: The full featured applets allow admins and moderators to pop open instant message clients with visitors or chatters. Instant messages can be sent to visitors or chatters who are using any of the standard havChat applets OR the tracker applet.	NO	NO	YES (3.3+)
Tracker Applet included - this VERY small applet (13-16 KB) can be visibly OR "invisibly" added to pages. Staff (admins and moderators) can watch visitors as they traverse a site and send instant messages - or popup messages - or push a (targeted) URL - to any visitor on a page with the tracker applet. When visible, the applet can display graphics indicating whether or not live support is currently available - with different targeted links and javascript functions to different actions when clicked.	NO	NO	YES
Exit URL: Applet owner to specify a URL to be loaded when the chatter logs out or disconnects from the chat. Nice for sites where users log into the site and are later auto-loggedin to the chat.	NO	NO	YES (3.3+)
Linked to existing visitor tracking or CRM mechanism: Applets can specify the URL of the link on the Host Addr value seen by Admins and Moderators in the User info Popup. The link can contain parameters, variables and appended IP value for better cgi specification. For example, we link the host address to our site tracking mechanism which allows us to immediately get a report showing how the person entered the site, their click stream on the site and other basic info like browser and platform used along with links to the major IP lookup sites (ARIN, RIPE, LacNic and APNic). UPDATE: also includes several (optional) definable links on the main panel of the User Info Popup window which can be used for anything you need them for. These also support variables for easy integration with existing site tools. Versions earlier then 3.2.1 had this link hard coded to ARIN	NO	NO	YES
Variable Substitution - allows variables to be used in various places (like push URLs and Targets) with substitution on either or both the sender's or receivers' applet.	NO	NO	YES (3.3+)
Optional Graphical Emoticons are now included in the multi color applets - use your own graphics and specify which to associate with which text emoticon pattern or patterns -- as many or as few as you like. Emoticon graphics can be marked as scalable or not depending on whether or not you want larger graphical icons displayed when larger font sizes are used - like when supporting impaired vision chatters.	NO	NO	YES (3.3+)
Applets CAN be loaded from a server other than where the chat server is running - Nice when you're running the chat and web servers on different machines.	NO	YES (2.02+)	YES
Compatible with older browsers - havChat is AWT - does not require Swing - does not require the Java Plugin (but does support the Java Plug-in 1.3.1 and later)	YES	YES	YES
Both Text and Graphic Displays: - havChat's applets come in both TextArea or Graphic (multi-colored text) display flavors	TEXT	TEXT	BOTH
Privileged User Levels: - havChat has built-in privilege levels for Admin, Moderator, Logger, TourGuide and Speaker - "Ghost Users" (capable in room but unseen in the user list) are also supported	YES	YES	YES
Owner defined USER ROLES - room owners can define ad-hoc User Roles (beyond those roles implied by built-in privileges) -- for example, in a room used for instruction, you might define some roles like Professor, Teaching Assistant, Tutor, Student etc.	NO	NO	YES
Popup Message Windows - Admins and Moderators can send messages which will be displayed on the receiver's screen as a popup window - optional action button can be included as well	NO	NO	YES
Bookmarks: URL Push, POPUP Messages and Whiteboard Bookmarks can be imported from a file on the user's local machine. Applets can also load a set of bookmarks from the server as the applet loads and starts - nice for having a set of bookmarks shared by all staffers, for example. NOTE: available in the Full featured applets only	NO	NO	YES
User Photos can be displayed as part of the User info popup and Popup Message windows.	NO	NO	YES
Multiple applets: havChat distributions include Full Featured and "Lite" Applets signed for both Netscape and IE -- as well as IM client and tracker applets. Only the Full Featured applets include Whiteboard support and Admin/Moderator functions - "Lite" applets are smaller and will load faster for casual chatters.	YES	YES	YES
Small Applets (size ranges in KB) havChat applets range in size from 38 KB up to 107 KB - smaller = faster download time -- tracker applets are only 15KB (.cab) and 18KB (.jar)	53 - 68	54 - 81	46 - 109
"Tiny" Applet display: havChat applets can be visibly embedded in a page with a very tiny footprint - minimum dims are probably @ 170x150 see Tiny Applet demo	NO	YES	YES
Floatable and Resizable Applets: of course, havChat applets can be floated off a page and resized as desired -- NOTE: you can hide the FLOAT button if you want to force the applet to remain embedded in a page or a javascript window -- here's a little example javascript popup display which hides the FLOAT button.	YES	YES	YES
Auto-float Support: havChat allows you to have the applet automatically float either when the applet is loaded or when a chatter actually logs in to the chat.	NO	YES	YES
Auto-login: havChat applets can be told to automatically log on when loaded -- this requires scripting on your part to supply required applet parameters containing the user id and, if required, password.	YES	YES	YES
Auto-logout: havChat applets will automatically log out a user who has been quiet too long -- you can specify this timeout period -- Admins and Moderators are not subject to quiet timeout.	YES	YES	YES
"LIVE LINK" URLS: Both the TextArea and Graphic display applets allow URLs which appear in the chat display to be clicked. URLs that can be clicked must start with "http://", "https://" or "mailto:".	NO	YES	YES
Moderated Chat Sessions: havChat supports fully moderated chats -- rooms can be hot-swapped between moderated and un-moderated mode by simple command -- Moderation also extends to the Whiteboards (meaning only those who can speak can draw).	YES	YES	YES
Moderator Control Panel: Moderators in a moderated room, can open a little popup GUI which makes it a snap to assign and revoke Speaker privilege. Makes it very easy to temporarily assign Speaker privilege to allow non-speakers to have a quick Q&A with the Guest Speaker. New in 3.3 as of version 3.3 (9/24/2003) the moderator popup gui has been replaced by the "Speaker" button displayed at the bottom of the current users list for admins and moderators. The Speaker button can be used to toggle Speaker privilege for users when the room is in moderated mode. Versions earlier then 3.3 (9/24/2003) have the moderator GUI	YES	YES	YES
Room States and Controls: havChat allows rooms to be hot-swapped between several states (open/closed, public/private and moderated/un-moderated) - other controls include things like concurrent user limits, allowed applet URLS, welcome info etc.	YES	YES	YES
Admin Controls: Room Admins have GUI and commands that let them quickly and easily do things like kick, exile, add/edit/delete known users, assign and change user privileges, modify room settings etc.	YES	YES	YES
Fully Configurable Applets: havChat applets are very configurable - you can change things like colors, logo, window icon and titles, help content, languages, hide fields and buttons, relocate certain fields, set fonts, change and enable/disable sounds etc. -- current version (3.3 9/24/2003) has over 140 applet parameters for customization and control - all parameters except host identifier are optional.	YES	YES	YES
Chat Bot Support: havChat allows you to write and attach your own Bot code to the applets - bot code can implement both pre-message processing (like filters, spell check etc.) and post-message processing (like for automatic response handling etc.) -- Bot code can be activated/deactivated using simple applet commands and/or parameters. -- appropriately written bot code can receive control commands from normal chat input.	NO	YES	YES
Whiteboard Support: The Full Featured havChat applets include Whiteboard support -- Whiteboards are initialized with graphic from the server -- multiple Whiteboards can be open at the same time -- chatters can save Whiteboards as files on their local machine or print Whiteboards on local printers etc. -- Whiteboards are included in Moderation (meaning only speakers can draw in a moderated room - but all can see the boards).	YES	YES	YES
Whiteboard Forwarding "in progress" whiteboards can be forwarded (with full history intact)	NO	NO	YES
Who's in the room: havChat applets allow you to see who is in a room without logging in. Rooms can be monitored for logins by listening for audible alerts - nide for call center or customer support staffers.	YES	YES	YES
Audible Alerts: havChat applets provide (optional) alerts on various conditions - when users log in and log out - Pager signals -- Popup Messages etc. -- Alerts can be disabled -- can be used to monitor a room for people entering and exiting the room even when not logged in.	YES	YES	YES
Hide User List: You can hide user list in applet - nice in a call center or customer support use where you do not want customer chatting among themselves, for example.	YES	YES	YES
"Ghost" Users: havChat allows a user to be made a "Ghost" - he will be invisible but capable in the room	YES	YES	YES
"Listen Only" Applet Presentation: havChat allows you to hide the input field - for example, if you want some visitors to be able to "listen" but not participate in a presentation.	YES	YES	YES
Private Messages: havChat provides several mechanisms for 1-to-1 private messages within an otherwise open room -- chatters can also use the Private/Ignore button to form private groups within an otherwise open room.	YES	YES	YES
Ignore Selected Users: Chatters can selectively ignore others in a room.	YES	YES	YES
Logging: havChat allows chat session content to be logged on the server (per room) and/or to a chatter's local machine (requires Logger privilege) -- logging can be started and stopped by applet commands and by room parameter settings.	YES	YES	YES
multiple Languages: havChat applets are Localized for multiple Languages - including Dutch, English, French, German, Italian and Spanish -- Additional languages available upon request.	YES	YES	YES
URL "Tours" - Admins, Moderators and TourGuides can push URLs to all or selected others in the room -- a push will open browser windows on other chatters machines -- chatters on each other's Private list can also push URLs to each other (but not to anyone not on the private list) -- Admins and Moderators can import bookmarks which can be used from the User info popup to push URLs to individual chatters.	YES	YES	YES
Features of the havChat Server	Ver. 1.x	Ver. 2.x	Ver. 3.0 MAR 2002
Server Status Monitor: You can write and attach your own Server Status Monitor to the havChat server allowing your applications to access various server status information like how many - and which - users are logged into a room, which IP's are currently blocked etc. New in 3.3 as of the 6/23/03 version of havChat 3.3, there is an example status monitor included which uses RMI and allows very clean and tight integration with dynamic web sites.	NO	YES (2.03+)	YES
Fully configurable: Of course you can control things like which port the chat server uses, initial rooms and settings, whether or not rooms consider queryString when connecting an applet to a room -- you can also establish various server-wide master settings (and per room overrides as needed) etc.	no Master	YES	YES
Master Settings: can be established with server-wide application allowing the server owner to establish certain limits on what room owners can do (for example, say the server owner wants to restrict all rooms to a max of 25 concurrent users - he can do so by setting the Master Limit to 25) -- nice where the server owner might provide rooms for various customer etc.	NO	YES	YES
Room level override of Master Settings: Server owners can allow establish certain room-specific Master Settings which can override corresponding server-wide Master Settings (for example, if a server owner has set the Master Limit to 25 but wants to allow one or more specific rooms to be allowed to have max of, say 35 - or ever 15 - he can do so). (Server Owner)	NO	YES	YES
Allowed URLs: Room owners can control where applets can attach from using fully or partially qualified URLs with or without consideration of URL query strings -- in cases where several rooms allow the same or overlapping URLs, rooms can also have specific names which can be used to allow applets to express a preference of it's possible choices. (MASTER and Room Owner)	YES	YES	YES
User Limits: The number of concurrent users can be established on a per room basis -- both Master and Room specific controls available. (MASTER and Room Owner)	YES	YES	YES
Multiple Domain Support havChat does not limit the number of domains for which the server can provide rooms.	YES	YES	YES
Database Requirements: havChat does NOT REQUIRE an external database; HOWEVER, if you have an existing user database, you can write and attach your own User Authorization class to the havChat server - simple API. By default, havChat uses a simple but flexible directory and file structure to maintain user info.	NO	NO	NO
Unlimited Number of Rooms: havChat does not limit the number of rooms that you can run from a server. The Memory footprint is very small - perhaps 100 Bytes per room -- Disk footprint is also quite small but will vary based upon things like the number of users with id/pass in the room (if using the default user auth) etc.	UNLIMITED*	UNLIMITED*	UNLIMITED*
Unlimited Concurrent Users: havChat does not limit the number of concurrent users allowed and is fairly gentle on both CPU and bandwidth consumption - however, your pipe, platform, O/S and the JVM you use will likely impose some realistic limit. We suggest planning on between 250 and 500 concurrent users -- you MAY find that you can handle larger or smaller loads.	UNLIMITED*	UNLIMITED*	UNLIMITED*
User Created Rooms: havChat does NOT allow casual users to create their own rooms on your server. Users CAN create a sort of "virtual room" within an otherwise public room by using the Private/Ignore button and adding one or more others to their Private list (chatters not on a users Private list can be totally ignored or not).	NO	NO	NO
Server Console Logging: there is one console log file for a server instance. You control whether or not you want a console log and where. Console log includes connects and disconnects - it does not include chat session content (see Session Logging below).	YES	YES	YES
Chat Session Logging: Chat Session content can be logged on the server and/or on one or more user's local machines (local logging requires "Logger" privilege in the room). Session logging is time- and user- stamped and is recorder per room. Logging can be enabled/disabled by the room configuration and/or by room Admins from the applets. Session content logging INCLUDES PRIVATE MESSAGES which will be useful to server and room owners in the case of liability. (per Room)	NO	YES	YES

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