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 = Designer. Developer. Producer. Writer. Editor. Etc.

70 responses to “WordPress Plugin: Simple Ajax Chat”

Hekto 2013/03/07 8:05 am

Hi Jeff, my comment from yesterday has disappeared…

Anyway, I’ve been looking why when I press Enter, the message is not sent. I checked your code:

function pressedEnter(field,event){
var theCode = event.keyCode ? event.keyCode : event.which ? event.which : event.charCode;
if (theCode == 13) {
sendComment();
return false;
}
else return true;
}

And the thread you refer to: http://www.codingforums.com/showthread.php?t=63818

Maybe it has something to do with that. The code is from 2005, maybe now it could need some change?

Since I don’t know how to code, I’m just suggesting, if it is of any help… Thanks! :)

Hekto 2013/03/07 5:10 pm

Yes, sac.php is loaded!

‘Enter’ doesn’t work on FF nor on IE.

Hope that helps (see my previous comment, published after your reply).

Jeff Starr 2013/03/07 5:26 pm • Post Author

Yes it does. I just checked the demo (linked in previous comment) in the following browsers:

PC / IE 8
PC / Firefox 3.6.25
Mac / Firefox 17.01

It sounds like something else is interfering with normal functionality, which you can easily verify on a new/default installation of WP. I’ve actually tested the plugin in many other browsers as well, and they all seem to work great.

Hekto 2013/03/08 8:14 am

I’m sure your plugin works fine on a new/default installation of WP (I asked a friend to check and it does), unfortunately, I’ve installed your plugin on a working WP site so I guess something is indeed interfering with normal functionality…

Don’t you have any idea what could cause the keycode not to work? Could it come from the CSS I modified? I’m stuck here, your plugin is so simple it’s great, if only the Enter key would work…

Thanks for your great work on this plugin and your help, much appreciated!

Jeff Starr 2013/03/08 12:59 pm • Post Author

Don’t you have any idea what could cause the keycode not to work?

Sure, I have lots of ideas, but with a family of four, a mortgage, 80+ hour work week, and a life to live, my time for pro bono is limited.

Off the top of my head, I would try disabling all other plugins and seeing if that helps. Then I would do some tests to ensure that the JavaScript is working, and then after checking anything else that I could find, would set up a test install of WordPress and build things up until the point of failure is discovered.

Or I would just move on and find another plugin ;)

serz 2013/04/10 4:33 am

I have alot of spammers (posting random stuff) is there something i can do about that? or maybe add a rule that they must match a number>? 3 + 4 = ?

Jeff Starr 2013/04/10 1:03 pm • Post Author

A good way of stopping spammers is to require login to chat. An alternate solution is to blacklist key terms via the plugin settings.

anne 2013/04/14 5:38 am

Hi Jeff, great thank you, i tried several chat plugins but this one worked in 2 seconds, big smile anne

Mark 2013/04/20 2:05 am

Hi Jeff, when I send a message my browser refreshing the page , what can cause this bug ?

Mark 2013/04/20 2:12 am

Never mind, just fixed it lol

Cedricle 2013/05/09 7:14 am

Is there a way to make more than one chat room on a single website

Jeff Starr 2013/05/09 12:22 pm • Post Author

Hi Cedricle, no SAC wasn’t designed for multiple chat forms.

DeeAnne 2013/05/26 3:57 pm

is there a way to show who is online in the chat?

Jeff Starr 2013/05/27 1:11 pm • Post Author

Not currently, but it’s a good idea that I’ll try to implement in the next version.

Filipe 2013/07/03 4:59 am

Please can we auto delete after some minutes all the chats?

Jeff Starr 2013/07/03 3:04 pm • Post Author

Yes, please see this post: https://wp-mix.com/wordpress-cron-tips/

Filipe 2013/07/03 5:46 am

Another question ! It’s possible the persons don’t write anything or forgot to put the name , but the chat don’t show error?

Jeff Starr 2013/07/03 3:05 pm • Post Author

Only by using the plugin settings, some aspects of this are possible, but you may also customize with code according to your specific needs.

Filipe 2013/07/04 1:30 am

first of all thanks for the answer, just another thing, what I have do change in the code you show to change from delete the chat in one hour to for example 3 minutes, or 180 seconds?

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

Hekto 2013/03/07 8:05 am

Hi Jeff, my comment from yesterday has disappeared…

Anyway, I’ve been looking why when I press Enter, the message is not sent. I checked your code:

function pressedEnter(field,event){
var theCode = event.keyCode ? event.keyCode : event.which ? event.which : event.charCode;
if (theCode == 13) {
sendComment();
return false;
}
else return true;
}

And the thread you refer to: http://www.codingforums.com/showthread.php?t=63818

Maybe it has something to do with that. The code is from 2005, maybe now it could need some change?

Since I don’t know how to code, I’m just suggesting, if it is of any help… Thanks! :)
Hekto 2013/03/07 5:10 pm

Yes, sac.php is loaded!

‘Enter’ doesn’t work on FF nor on IE.

Hope that helps (see my previous comment, published after your reply).
- Jeff Starr 2013/03/07 5:26 pm • Post Author
  
  Yes it does. I just checked the demo (linked in previous comment) in the following browsers:
  
  PC / IE 8
  PC / Firefox 3.6.25
  Mac / Firefox 17.01
  
  It sounds like something else is interfering with normal functionality, which you can easily verify on a new/default installation of WP. I’ve actually tested the plugin in many other browsers as well, and they all seem to work great.
Hekto 2013/03/08 8:14 am

I’m sure your plugin works fine on a new/default installation of WP (I asked a friend to check and it does), unfortunately, I’ve installed your plugin on a working WP site so I guess something is indeed interfering with normal functionality…

Don’t you have any idea what could cause the keycode not to work? Could it come from the CSS I modified? I’m stuck here, your plugin is so simple it’s great, if only the Enter key would work…

Thanks for your great work on this plugin and your help, much appreciated!
- Jeff Starr 2013/03/08 12:59 pm • Post Author
  
  Don’t you have any idea what could cause the keycode not to work?
  
  Sure, I have lots of ideas, but with a family of four, a mortgage, 80+ hour work week, and a life to live, my time for pro bono is limited.
  
  Off the top of my head, I would try disabling all other plugins and seeing if that helps. Then I would do some tests to ensure that the JavaScript is working, and then after checking anything else that I could find, would set up a test install of WordPress and build things up until the point of failure is discovered.
  
  Or I would just move on and find another plugin ;)
serz 2013/04/10 4:33 am

I have alot of spammers (posting random stuff) is there something i can do about that? or maybe add a rule that they must match a number>? 3 + 4 = ?
- Jeff Starr 2013/04/10 1:03 pm • Post Author
  
  A good way of stopping spammers is to require login to chat. An alternate solution is to blacklist key terms via the plugin settings.
anne 2013/04/14 5:38 am

Hi Jeff, great thank you, i tried several chat plugins but this one worked in 2 seconds, big smile anne
Mark 2013/04/20 2:05 am

Hi Jeff, when I send a message my browser refreshing the page , what can cause this bug ?
- Mark 2013/04/20 2:12 am
  
  Never mind, just fixed it lol
Cedricle 2013/05/09 7:14 am

Is there a way to make more than one chat room on a single website
- Jeff Starr 2013/05/09 12:22 pm • Post Author
  
  Hi Cedricle, no SAC wasn’t designed for multiple chat forms.
DeeAnne 2013/05/26 3:57 pm

is there a way to show who is online in the chat?
- Jeff Starr 2013/05/27 1:11 pm • Post Author
  
  Not currently, but it’s a good idea that I’ll try to implement in the next version.
Filipe 2013/07/03 4:59 am

Please can we auto delete after some minutes all the chats?
- Jeff Starr 2013/07/03 3:04 pm • Post Author
  
  Yes, please see this post: https://wp-mix.com/wordpress-cron-tips/
Filipe 2013/07/03 5:46 am

Another question ! It’s possible the persons don’t write anything or forgot to put the name , but the chat don’t show error?
- Jeff Starr 2013/07/03 3:05 pm • Post Author
  
  Only by using the plugin settings, some aspects of this are possible, but you may also customize with code according to your specific needs.
Filipe 2013/07/04 1:30 am

first of all thanks for the answer, just another thing, what I have do change in the code you show to change from delete the chat in one hour to for example 3 minutes, or 180 seconds?

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