WEBchat makes it possible to exchange messages between a browser (e.g. Netscape, Internet Explorer) and DynamIP. You need the following to get WEBchat to work:

If you go ONline (i.e. upload the template), DynamIP activates the WEBchat form on your web page. Your web page will look similar to this example (note that all the strings NOT.ON.LINE.NOW will be replaced with your current IP address). In the DynamIP main window, you should see a green bar just to the right of the mailboxes indicating that WEBchat was properly initialized (a red bar indicates that something went wrong, or WEBchat isn't active at all - maybe you have to close DynamIP and restart it again to solve the problem).

As long as you are connected to the Internet and keep DynamIP running, anybody who loads your web page with a browser can type a message into the WEBchat field. As soon as the other person clicks the button Submit on your web page you will receive a notification on your side and DynamIP will display the message in a window. For example, if the other person typed "Hi Chris" into the WEBchat window, the WEBchat window would look as follows on your side:

While the browser client waits for your response you can type a reply and send it back to the originator with a click on the button Send. (click Cancel if you do not want to send back a reply). You and the other person can keep on exchanging messages as long as you like. Note, however, that the timeout on the DynamIP side (that is the number of seconds you have time to respond) depends on the other person's settings and there is nothing you can do to change that. Most systems have timeouts of roughly 30 to 40 seconds, but sometimes this can be much shorter (or longer, for that matter). Once you've lost the connection to the browser it is not possible for you to reestablish it, i.e. you cannot send back messages after losing the connection (you must wait for the browser user to send you another message).

Hence, WEBchat is not really meant for lengthy dialogs (use MS NetMeeting if you want to really chat...).. However, it is a nice tool to exchange short messages on the fly. The really nice thing is that the other person doesn't have to install DynamIP for this to work...

If you like the concept of WEBchat but don't know where to upload your page to, or simply don't have any disk space available on a decent Web server, you're not out of luck yet. You can still use WEBchat! Move over here and follow the instructions. If you are in need of a free home page, consult The Free Home Page Guide.

WEBchat uses port #1498 by default. If you need to change this setting - for whatever reason - you will find instructions here.