WordPress Plugin: Simple Ajax Chat

Updated July 27, 2022 • 70 comments

[ Simple Ajax Chat ] Simple Ajax Chat displays a fully customizable Ajax-powered chat box anywhere on your site. SAC makes it easy for your visitors to chat with each other on your website. There already are a number of decent chat plugins, but I wanted one that is simple yet fully customizable with all the features AND outputs clean HTML markup for easy styling.

Go Pro! Create unlimited chat forms with more features. Check out SAC Pro »

Simple Ajax Chat is based on Jalenack’s Wordspew (aka AJAX Shoutbox), which I’ve been using on my sites since the plugin was released back in 2005 (ish). Wordspew works great even today, but it hasn’t been updated in seven years, so I decided to adopt and improve the plugin with fresh code, clean markup, better control, and more features. Here’s a screenshot showing the plugin used for an imaginary, rather egocentric chat:

Screenshot of chat-box display (view more screenshots)

Features

Simple Ajax Chat uses Ajax to enable new chats to appear without refreshing the page. The form works great even without JavaScript, but the page is refreshed for each new message. Here is an overview of the plugin’s main features:

Plug-n-play functionality, no configuration required
Display on any post or page with the shortcode
Display anywhere in your theme template with the template tag
Includes default CSS styles and enables custom CSS from the settings
JavaScript/Ajax goodness loads new chats without refreshing the page
Also works when JavaScript is not available on the user’s browser
Clean markup makes it easy to style the appearance as you please
New chat messages fade-in with custom duration and color
Includes manage-chats panel for editing and deleting chats
Links included in chats include `_blank` target attributes
Includes complete map of all available CSS hooks
Includes built-in banned-phrases list
Automatic smileys supported :)
On-demand restoration of all default settings
Super-slick toggling settings page

One of my favorite new features is the built-in chat blacklist, where you can add any phrase from the settings page and have it magically disappear from the username, chat input, or URL (if enabled). With the old plugin, I had to modify the source code to block stuff, but now it’s all handled from the comfort of the WP Admin.

Customize everything

The Wordspew plugin included a minimal set of options, which is one of the reasons I found it so useful. So I wanted to keep that simplicity while adding some much-needed features. It’s a balance that I think stays true to the original. Here’s a list of things you can customize with Simple Ajax Chat:

Customize the update interval for the Ajax-requests
Customize the fade-duration for new chat messages
Customize the intro and outro colors for new chats
Option to require login/registration to participate
Option to enable/disable URL field for usernames
Option to use textarea for larger input field
Customize the default message and admin name
Customize the appearance with your own CSS
Option to enable/disable custom styles
Option to load the JavaScript only when the chat box is displayed
Add custom content to the chat box and chat form
Built-in control panel to edit and delete chats
Built-in blacklist to ban specific phrases from the chat

Installation & Usage

Activate the plugin and visit the SAC settings page to customize your options. Once everything is customized as you like it, display the form anywhere using the shortcode or template tag.

Shortcode & Template Tag

Use this shortcode to display the chat box on a post or page:

[sac_happens]

Use this template tag to display the chat box anywhere in your theme template:

<?php if (function_exists('simple_ajax_chat')) simple_ajax_chat(); ?>

Screenshots

Here are some screenshots of Simple Ajax Chat in action (using default settings):

Demo

Online demo available at WP-Mix: Simple Ajax Chat DEMO »

Download

Download Simple Ajax Chat via the WordPress.org Plugin Directory:

Download Simple Ajax Chat »

About the Author

Jeff Starr = Web Developer. Security Specialist. WordPress Buff.

70 responses to “WordPress Plugin: Simple Ajax Chat”

Dan Dawson 2012/11/14 10:49 pm

Looks pretty great, I’ll definitely give it a try. I have a few sites that are running phpMyChat and I would love to migrate them to something a more modern than that.

Does Simple Ajax Chat have any ability for users to have their own logins to protect their usernames?

A perfect solution would allow me to import username/password pairs from the old site. Previous chat software on my sites that didn’t have logins caused a lot of problems with people impersonating other regular users of the system.

Jeff Starr 2012/11/15 12:52 pm • Post Author

Hi Dan, sorry but the Simple Ajax Chat plugin does not have an import-users feature. Interesting idea though.
- Dan Dawson 2012/11/15 2:30 pm
  
  Thanks, and I wouldn’t even need the import feature (I could easily do that manually with the SQL) but was more curious if it had any login system at all built in, but it looks like it doesn’t.
  
  Two easy options for how it could be implemented… one model could use the existing WordPress Users model to handle logins (probably a good choice) and the other would be a chatroom specific table of user data and passwords.
  
  The only fields really needed would be the chat username (nickname), password and email address (for password recovery)
  
  Either way, great job, and if I ever find some time to work on this I’ll let you know and contribute my changes back to you!
- Jeff Starr 2012/11/15 7:57 pm • Post Author
  
  Ah, I should note that there is an option to require registration to participate in the chat.. which may be something that will help? It basically relies on WP’s built-in registration system to check if the user is logged in or not. Let me know if you find a better way! Either way, thanks for the feedback, it is much appreciated.

Scott Wyden Kivowitz 2012/11/15 7:41 am

Very cool – this is one I’ll definitely use if I need a chat plugin.

Muj 2012/11/15 3:36 pm

Thanks for creating this chatbox

Miran 2012/11/15 11:46 pm

I am getting error – I will put here just first line – if needed I can paste all:

Warning: stristr() [function.stristr]: Empty delimiter in /home/potencia/public_html/wp-content/plugins/simple-ajax-chat/simple-ajax-chat.php on line 282 ....

is it there maybe support forum or email I can send this to.
Thank you.

I am looking for a useful chat for my site and I think this is it, just to make it work

Jeff Starr 2012/11/19 3:02 am • Post Author

Thanks for the feedback, Miran. I’m updating plugins and will look into this for the next update. Does the error happen using the default plugin settings, or after something specific has been changed?
Jeff Starr 2012/11/19 11:43 pm • Post Author

Hey Miran, just to let you know this issue has been fixed in the latest version of Simple Ajax Chat (v20121119). Let me know if you encounter any further issues.

William 2012/11/17 3:43 pm

Really is a simple to install Chat System–I Like simple. However I have a silly question. Hopefully its a quick fix but I am no programmer, the image above shows a window for the chats and a scroll bar to scroll through them to read. On my installation it simply keeps on being entered with no framed scroll window and it accepts hundreds and hundreds of chat entries growing the page to huge size. How can I fix this I am using 3.4.2 and twenty eleven. I sure do appreciate all you’ve done and hope you have a super simple fix for this situation. Thanks

Jeff Starr 2012/11/18 12:03 am • Post Author

Yes easy fix: in the settings custom CSS field, find or add the following selector:

ul#sac-messages {}

Inside it, declare a height for the chat box, for example:

ul#sac-messages { height: 300px; }

And remember to save the changes :)

Muj 2012/11/23 1:30 pm

Hi developers,

Is there a way to make the same as: http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/pierres-wordspew/

Because they also have stopped development, this version was much simple, all you had to do was drag the widget.

Someone told me that there is an exploit in pierres-wordspew thats why I removed it.

Jeff Starr 2012/11/23 1:39 pm • Post Author

It’s just me, Muj :) Are you asking about adding widget functionality?
- Muj 2012/11/23 7:07 pm
  
  Hi Jeff Starr,
  
  Not really, but it would be great if it did.
  
  I like how the Pierres Wordspew is layed out.
  
  Maybe if you could base it off that.
  
  Thanks
- Jeff Starr 2012/11/23 7:16 pm • Post Author
  
  Nah, just go ahead and use Wordspew. I rather prefer the semantic HTML markup of Simple Ajax Chat. Have fun.

Muj 2012/11/23 7:35 pm

Is there any exploits in it?

If you search in Google “wordspew exploit”

Thanks

Jeff Starr 2012/11/23 7:54 pm • Post Author

What is an example of an exploit that you are concerned about, glad to take a look.
- Muj 2012/11/24 6:31 am
  
  Remote SQL Injection Vulnerability
  
  http://www.exploit-db.com/exploits/5039/
- Jeff Starr 2012/11/24 1:18 pm • Post Author
  
  Yeah that’s from like 2008 and is ineffective against Simple Ajax Chat. Try it and see for yourself :)

Muj 2012/11/24 1:26 pm

What about against WordSpew ;-)

Jeff Starr 2012/11/24 1:29 pm • Post Author

No idea, not my plugin :)

skaapie 2012/11/27 5:29 am

Is there a way to only let 1 person in the chat at a time? For example if i run an eCommerce site, this chat box can be as a quick inquiry or live support. It would be weird if 2 or 3 customers are in the same chat room at a time.

Jeff Starr 2012/11/27 1:18 pm • Post Author

Hi skaapie, unfortunately this plugin doesn’t have that functionality, but probably there is another that will do what you request.

richard 2012/12/02 3:18 pm

activated chat, but I’m new to wordpress and don’t understand how or where to place the shortcode or template tag (using Suffusion theme)

Jeff Starr 2012/12/03 12:57 pm • Post Author

If you want to display the chat box in a post or page, use the shortcode; else, if you want to include the chat box in your theme template files, use the template tag. I recommend trying the shortcode first and going from there.

J. 2012/12/04 12:04 pm

Hi there,
After install and testing I get this massage when I press “say it”

Warning: stristr() [function.stristr]: Empty delimiter in /.../plugins/simple-ajax-chat/simple-ajax-chat.php on line 282

also in line 285 & 288

Plus this:

Warning: Cannot modify header information - headers already sent by (output started at /plugins/simple-ajax-chat/simple-ajax-chat.php:282) in /plugins/simple-ajax-chat/simple-ajax-chat.php on line 217

Also in line 218 & 219

Is this a theme related issue?

I wanted to have this plugin on a password protected page. But it doesn’t seem to matter what changes I made.

Hope you can help/fix the issue.
Kind regards,
J.

Jeff Starr 2012/12/04 1:08 pm • Post Author

That’s weird, could have sworn I fixed this issue in the latest version of the plugin. May I ask which version you are using?

Jonathan Chew 2012/12/06 9:39 am

I’m getting this strange error:

Warning: Illegal string offset 'sac_script_url' in C:\xampp\htdocs\wordpress\wp-content\plugins\simple-ajax-chat\simple-ajax-chat.php on line 192

Do you know how I should fix it?

Exuberantly,
Jonathan

Jeff Starr 2012/12/06 12:31 pm • Post Author

Hi Jonathan, that’s a new one! Not sure what the issue is at this point, but will look into it for the next update. In the meantime the plugin should work fine (I’m using it on a number of sites).
- Fábio 2012/12/26 4:16 pm
  
  That issue is because you have to call $sac_options[] on line 191 and other lines that have that variable(when the variable is first called). I got the same problem :)

Comments are closed for this post. Something to add? Let me know.

Dan Dawson 2012/11/14 10:49 pm

Looks pretty great, I’ll definitely give it a try. I have a few sites that are running phpMyChat and I would love to migrate them to something a more modern than that.

Does Simple Ajax Chat have any ability for users to have their own logins to protect their usernames?

A perfect solution would allow me to import username/password pairs from the old site. Previous chat software on my sites that didn’t have logins caused a lot of problems with people impersonating other regular users of the system.
- Jeff Starr 2012/11/15 12:52 pm • Post Author
  
  Hi Dan, sorry but the Simple Ajax Chat plugin does not have an import-users feature. Interesting idea though.
  - Dan Dawson 2012/11/15 2:30 pm
    
    Thanks, and I wouldn’t even need the import feature (I could easily do that manually with the SQL) but was more curious if it had any login system at all built in, but it looks like it doesn’t.
    
    Two easy options for how it could be implemented… one model could use the existing WordPress Users model to handle logins (probably a good choice) and the other would be a chatroom specific table of user data and passwords.
    
    The only fields really needed would be the chat username (nickname), password and email address (for password recovery)
    
    Either way, great job, and if I ever find some time to work on this I’ll let you know and contribute my changes back to you!
  - Jeff Starr 2012/11/15 7:57 pm • Post Author
    
    Ah, I should note that there is an option to require registration to participate in the chat.. which may be something that will help? It basically relies on WP’s built-in registration system to check if the user is logged in or not. Let me know if you find a better way! Either way, thanks for the feedback, it is much appreciated.
Scott Wyden Kivowitz 2012/11/15 7:41 am

Very cool – this is one I’ll definitely use if I need a chat plugin.
Muj 2012/11/15 3:36 pm

Thanks for creating this chatbox
Miran 2012/11/15 11:46 pm

I am getting error – I will put here just first line – if needed I can paste all:

Warning: stristr() [function.stristr]: Empty delimiter in /home/potencia/public_html/wp-content/plugins/simple-ajax-chat/simple-ajax-chat.php on line 282 ....

is it there maybe support forum or email I can send this to.
Thank you.

I am looking for a useful chat for my site and I think this is it, just to make it work
- Jeff Starr 2012/11/19 3:02 am • Post Author
  
  Thanks for the feedback, Miran. I’m updating plugins and will look into this for the next update. Does the error happen using the default plugin settings, or after something specific has been changed?
- Jeff Starr 2012/11/19 11:43 pm • Post Author
  
  Hey Miran, just to let you know this issue has been fixed in the latest version of Simple Ajax Chat (v20121119). Let me know if you encounter any further issues.
William 2012/11/17 3:43 pm

Really is a simple to install Chat System–I Like simple. However I have a silly question. Hopefully its a quick fix but I am no programmer, the image above shows a window for the chats and a scroll bar to scroll through them to read. On my installation it simply keeps on being entered with no framed scroll window and it accepts hundreds and hundreds of chat entries growing the page to huge size. How can I fix this I am using 3.4.2 and twenty eleven. I sure do appreciate all you’ve done and hope you have a super simple fix for this situation. Thanks
- Jeff Starr 2012/11/18 12:03 am • Post Author
  
  Yes easy fix: in the settings custom CSS field, find or add the following selector:
  
  ul#sac-messages {}
  
  Inside it, declare a height for the chat box, for example:
  
  ul#sac-messages { height: 300px; }
  
  And remember to save the changes :)
Muj 2012/11/23 1:30 pm

Hi developers,

Is there a way to make the same as: http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/pierres-wordspew/

Because they also have stopped development, this version was much simple, all you had to do was drag the widget.

Someone told me that there is an exploit in pierres-wordspew thats why I removed it.
- Jeff Starr 2012/11/23 1:39 pm • Post Author
  
  It’s just me, Muj :) Are you asking about adding widget functionality?
  - Muj 2012/11/23 7:07 pm
    
    Hi Jeff Starr,
    
    Not really, but it would be great if it did.
    
    I like how the Pierres Wordspew is layed out.
    
    Maybe if you could base it off that.
    
    Thanks
  - Jeff Starr 2012/11/23 7:16 pm • Post Author
    
    Nah, just go ahead and use Wordspew. I rather prefer the semantic HTML markup of Simple Ajax Chat. Have fun.
Muj 2012/11/23 7:35 pm

Is there any exploits in it?

If you search in Google “wordspew exploit”

Thanks
- Jeff Starr 2012/11/23 7:54 pm • Post Author
  
  What is an example of an exploit that you are concerned about, glad to take a look.
  - Muj 2012/11/24 6:31 am
    
    Remote SQL Injection Vulnerability
    
    http://www.exploit-db.com/exploits/5039/
  - Jeff Starr 2012/11/24 1:18 pm • Post Author
    
    Yeah that’s from like 2008 and is ineffective against Simple Ajax Chat. Try it and see for yourself :)
Muj 2012/11/24 1:26 pm

What about against WordSpew ;-)
- Jeff Starr 2012/11/24 1:29 pm • Post Author
  
  No idea, not my plugin :)
skaapie 2012/11/27 5:29 am

Is there a way to only let 1 person in the chat at a time? For example if i run an eCommerce site, this chat box can be as a quick inquiry or live support. It would be weird if 2 or 3 customers are in the same chat room at a time.
- Jeff Starr 2012/11/27 1:18 pm • Post Author
  
  Hi skaapie, unfortunately this plugin doesn’t have that functionality, but probably there is another that will do what you request.
richard 2012/12/02 3:18 pm

activated chat, but I’m new to wordpress and don’t understand how or where to place the shortcode or template tag (using Suffusion theme)
- Jeff Starr 2012/12/03 12:57 pm • Post Author
  
  If you want to display the chat box in a post or page, use the shortcode; else, if you want to include the chat box in your theme template files, use the template tag. I recommend trying the shortcode first and going from there.
J. 2012/12/04 12:04 pm

Hi there,
After install and testing I get this massage when I press “say it”

Warning: stristr() [function.stristr]: Empty delimiter in /.../plugins/simple-ajax-chat/simple-ajax-chat.php on line 282

also in line 285 & 288

Plus this:

Warning: Cannot modify header information - headers already sent by (output started at /plugins/simple-ajax-chat/simple-ajax-chat.php:282) in /plugins/simple-ajax-chat/simple-ajax-chat.php on line 217

Also in line 218 & 219

Is this a theme related issue?

I wanted to have this plugin on a password protected page. But it doesn’t seem to matter what changes I made.

Hope you can help/fix the issue.
Kind regards,
J.
- Jeff Starr 2012/12/04 1:08 pm • Post Author
  
  That’s weird, could have sworn I fixed this issue in the latest version of the plugin. May I ask which version you are using?
Jonathan Chew 2012/12/06 9:39 am

I’m getting this strange error:

Warning: Illegal string offset 'sac_script_url' in C:\xampp\htdocs\wordpress\wp-content\plugins\simple-ajax-chat\simple-ajax-chat.php on line 192

Do you know how I should fix it?

Exuberantly,
Jonathan
- Jeff Starr 2012/12/06 12:31 pm • Post Author
  
  Hi Jonathan, that’s a new one! Not sure what the issue is at this point, but will look into it for the next update. In the meantime the plugin should work fine (I’m using it on a number of sites).
  - Fábio 2012/12/26 4:16 pm
    
    That issue is because you have to call $sac_options[] on line 191 and other lines that have that variable(when the variable is first called). I got the same problem :)

123 • Newer Comments »