Online communities are stronger than ever. They are where we connect, support each other, and celebrate our successes. Each community is unique. Each world was created to highlight your particular culture.

Furthermore, even for non-members, searchable online communities are an invaluable source of first-hand information — don’t we all like to read user reviews when purchasing a product?

The value of online communities for both members and non-members cannot be overstated. Nonetheless, even the most popular communities have noticed a trend for users to leave and form closer-knit sub-communities on other platforms using other real-time messaging apps.

The reason was quickly discovered. Online communities in their basic format failed to provide one of the required functions — a private conversation space.

In this post, we will analyze why community members may seek chatting options and how online communities can address this issue and retain their user base by incorporating a chat function.

What Are the Benefits of Including Real-Time Chat in Online Communities?

Communities would want to share and respond to the latest as it happens, with the internet making news constantly accessible and ever-changing.

You’ll be able to give your community a way to chat and share rich media about topics that are important to them at any time they want with real-time chat. Your platform can then be a driving force for relevant, timely conversations. This encourages users to keep all of their conversations on your platform rather than using other messaging services.

Within the platform, you’ll be able to create smaller communities, encouraging more interaction and catering to every interest and type of content.

Utilizing minisites to create online communities

Online communities lack real-time communication. They feed on forums and websites, but never live chat. RumbleTalk offers both. Online communities can create minisites to do the following:

1. Create a mini page for their community website
2. Utilize online chat rooms to connect with their community

So, let’s discover on how you can create a minisite that has an embedded chat room. Let it change the way you approach your online communities.

Improve communication by using a minisite with a chat room

In this section, we’ll walk you through the steps necessary to create your own miniature website. You’ll be surprised how simple it is!

1. Sign up for a RumbleTalk account. Simply visit our website and click Sign up.
2. On your admin panel, you’ll see Pages. This will take you to another page. This is referred to as a minisite.
3. Arrange it however you want. We’ve created a default template so you don’t have to worry about what you’ll put on the page. All you have to do is adapt it to your online community.

The Pages feature assists in creating more connected communities. As there’s a chat room embedded in the minisite, members can login and chat away. It helps to:

• Develop strong relationships. Members can drop in at any time to see who’s there and talk to each other.
• Social gatherings and events. There are numerous conversation areas, allowing everyone to make a genuine connection. Community admins can also use the YouTube link to host live events.
• Revenue potential. For special pages or topics, you can add a paywall to your chat room.

The Answer

At this point, no other platform can compete with online communities in terms of resources. The users are the key to this wealth, as they crowdsource information to create a robust and searchable repository.

However, aside from posting on forums and searching for content, online communities offer just that. This is where real-time chat can elevate the experience by encouraging interpersonal communication, interaction, and support based on the knowledge already available on the platform. It’s a fantastic combination that benefits both platform providers and users.

If you want to know more about real-time chatting and its benefits, then contact support@rumbletalk.com to get a free demo.

When you know how, customizing your chat room is simple. In this article, we’ll show you how to use the RumbleTalk admin panel to customize the look and feel of your chat room.

Why the need to customize chat rooms?

Because the chat room is a separate entity from your website, it is best to align your chat design with the overall look of your site. When the website and chat plugin are not in sync, there is a disconnect. As a result, you can easily customize your chat design with RumbleTalk’s customization features at any time.

Beginning with CSS

When you paste CSS code, it will be reflected in your group chat. Web and mobile browsers use different codes. So, check out these links for codes that you can use.

• Text style tricks using CSS
• 27 Easy Chat CSS Tricks for Designing your Own Chat Room (WEB & MOBILE)
• 11 CSS tricks to style up your mobile group chat theme

How should CSS be used?

Follow these steps if you are new to RumbleTalk or don’t know where to find the CSS option.

Navigate to Design > Visual Design.

Scroll to the bottom of the Visual Design tab.

The CSS editor is available for both mobile and web browsers.

Begin with these introductory CSS articles for web and mobile.

• Introduction to Mobile CSS
• Introduction to Web CSS

NOTE: If you return to the Visual Design tab (for example, to change background images), your code will be reset. This means you can only have one custom design, either in CSS or in Visual Design. Furthermore, it is best to leave CSS editing to the professionals to avoid making mistakes. If you don’t have a designer, you can use the links above to copy and paste the codes you need for your group chat theme.

Samples of CSS styles

• Message text borders

To add a border for all messages, the code you will need is as follows:

.message-text{
color:#fff;
text-shadow: -1px 0 black, 0 1px black,
1px 0 black, 0 -1px black;
font-weight: bold;
}

After pasting it on the editor, it will look like this.

• Username border

To add a border for all usernames, the code you will need is as follows:

.message-user-name{
font-weight: bold;
color:rgba(0,150,245,1.00);
text-shadow: -1px 0 black, 0 1px black,
1px 0 black, 0 -1px black;
}

After pasting it on the editor, it will look like this.

• Combining both border CSS styles

Why not try combining the two styles now that we’ve shown you in the examples above?

To combine them, simply paste both codes into the editor and separate them with a space by pressing Enter on your keyboard. The code should then look like this in the editor.

.message-user-name{
font-weight: bold;
color:rgba(0,150,245,1.00);
text-shadow: -1px 0 black, 0 1px black,
1px 0 black, 0 -1px black;
}
.message-text{
color:#fff;
text-shadow: -1px 0 black, 0 1px black,
1px 0 black, 0 -1px black;
font-weight: bold;
}

Here’s how it will look like when you combine the two styles.

You can do this for a variety of styles. So, try your hand at it or delegate the technical work to your designer. More tricks can be found in the articles, so choose the best one for your group chat room.

Simple customization for beginners

The Visual Design tab allows for more in-depth customization. You will notice that six subtabs can be customized.

• General
• Users List
• Chat Area
• Text Box
• Dialog Box
• Messages

Each of this corresponds to a chat room element. You can change the background image and color, as well as the text color, font size and style, and so on. Let’s change the background color in this example. Upload an image or paste an image URL in the Background Image section of the General subtab to accomplish this.

Another example would be changing the colors of the messages. You would need to select the Messages subtab for this. You will find several customization options for your message box here (how messages appear in the chat room). Let’s experiment with changing the color of each message box. In the tab below, select a message color.

Here’s what it would look like.

This is how fundamental chat customization works. All you have to do is choose or upload an image, and you’re done.

A simple method to customize your chat rooms

You can customize the appearance and feel of your chat room without the assistance of a developer. RumbleTalk is a simple platform that allows you to personalize your chat room. There are skins and CSS codes that you can use right away.

It’s a chat platform that can be easily customized for your website. To request a free demo, email support@rumbletalk.com.

It’s time to take your virtual events to the next level with an event chat. It’s an event chat platform that will give your guests the ability to interact with each other and with you in real-time. In return, it creates an even more immersive and memorable experience for everyone in attendance.

See how easy it is to set up an event chat platform that can be enjoyed by everyone in attendance!

What are event chat rooms and why do we need them?

A virtual event chat room is a chat plugin beside your live stream. It allows your audience, speakers, and organizers to connect with one another in a virtual space.

Virtual event chats offer a range of different features that can’t always be found at traditional in-person events. For example, they include an opportunity to meet other professionals from all over the globe, send digital files instantly, and collect real-time feedback through polls and Q&A sessions. All of these, without having to leave the comforts of their home.

Event chats are effecient, time-saving, and affordable. Furthermore, it comes with 5 different chat types and it’s fairly simple to integrate!

Different chat types tailored fit to your goals

RumbleTalk offers 5 Chat Types that you can interchange any time you want.

1. Social Chat – A public group chat built for communities and open discussions.
2. Member’s Chat – A private group chat for members only. Use this for closed private group chat discussions. You can also add a log-in page so you can restrict the chat to a specific user only.
3. Private Chat – A private one-on-one chat where users can communicate with other users. Perfect for consultations and interviews.
4. Expert’s Chat – A private one-on-one chat where only the admin can initiate a conversation with other users. It is the perfect venue for experts (such as lawyers, doctors, mentors, and fitness gurus) to have a private conversation with a client.
5. Moderated Chat – A public group chats with an administrator to moderate the conversation. The admin can perform functions such as screen inbound messages before it goes live, ban a specific user, manage Q&A sessions, export transcripts, slow down incoming messages, mute users, filter profanity, and more.

Readily available engagement tools

Your RumbleTalk chats are brimming with smartly-designed tools you can use to increase interaction and audience participation. Here are some of the features you can use:

1. Have one-on-one video and audio calls
2. Create multiple chat rooms
3. Customize your chat design
4. Add a welcome message
5. Mention a fellow user
6. Turn words into links with InText Keywords
7. Play Youtube videos directly into the chat
8. Share anything with the Multimedia Sharing tool
9. let your audience participate with Polls

Here are some of the admin functions:

1. Approve or reject messages before it goes live
2. Host a Moderated Q&A session
3. Export chat transcript
4. Mute everyone at once
5. Slow down the chat
6. Clear the chat history
7. Disconnect or ban users
8. Filter profanity

Step 1: Create a RumbleTalk Account

Go to the RumbleTalk website and sign up.

You will be redirected to the RumbleTalk chat log-in pop-up. Type your email and password then click Continue. You can also sign-up using your Facebook account.

Step 2: Choose your preferred chat type

Upon creating your account, you will be asked to choose from the 3 main chat types below:

Step 3: Personalize your chat room

Your chat rooms are also built with HTML 5. So, they can be easily customized to fit your desired look and feel. To make your chat room a personalized place, we have some great pre-made templates for you to choose from.

In addition, if you want it to look more unique, there are lots of ways to customize the appearance such as using Cascading Style Sheets (CSS). Change up color schemes and put in your own company logo or picture.

Step 4: Embed the event chat into your website

From the chat settings, you can copy the provided one line of code and paste it into your website.

We’ve made other options convenient with our integrations, add-ons, and chat plugins. Use it on WordPress, Joomla, Angular, React, and Wix.

The ideal event chat for a more engaged audience

Embrace the future with RumbleTalk. It’s an easy-to-use and highly customizable event chat that is compatible with any platform.

Transform your streaming experience into something interactive and engaging for viewers across all channels—and regardless of their location.

For starters, get your free chat here. If you need help, we’d love to get to know more about your goals! Send us an email at support@rumbletalk.com.