Put an AJAX Shoutbox on Your Website with YShout

JavaScriptSearch
Monday, April 17, 2006; 03:40 AM

YShout is a lightweight package that allows the addition of a shout box to a website. It is standards compliant, non-intrusive, and utilizes AJAX.  YShout is easy to set up, and requires only a server that supports PHP, without a database.

YShout sports a few user-configurable options, but the real kicker is that it outputs valid HTML, which can then be styled with CSS to integrate beautifully with any layout.

The application is created by freelance programmer Yuri Vishnevsky, who has made the source package available for free download at http://yurivish.com/yshout .  

Here are the features in bulleted-list form, as described on the YShout webpage:

• Simple, quick install: Just upload the files, include the Javascripts, and an empty div. YShout does the rest of the work for you.
• AJAX: Yes, it's a buzzword, but with good reason. With AJAX-powered YShout, you never need to reload the page when submitting a message! YShout also auto-refreshes the message list, so you will always be up to date.
• No database needed: YShout utilizes simple text files to keep track of chats, so there's no need for a hefty database!
• Flood control: There is a 2-second wait time between messages to prevent evil chat flooders from acting like evil chat flooders.