I know there's been a lot of upset about the changes made to the forums/chatroom on the old site, so I decided to do something totally new on the new website.

My design goals were as follows...

1) Simplify the chatroom
2) Make it easier to access, not just hidden in the forums
3) Get it more active
4) Make it usable for mobile users

And I did it! If you visit the new beta website at https://beta.bikermatch.co.uk you will see it.

-Tab on the right of EVERY PAGE
-Only for people who are logged in with an ENABLED PROFILE
-Simplified by removing ability to whisper and change colours.
-Can be opened while doing whatever you're doing. No need to change pages or open popups. Open and close the "chat flap" as and when you want it.
-It refreshes either every 30 seconds OR whenever you post a message

I actually made this really quickly. Took me 3.5 days. I hope you like it and I hope it will make the chatroom much busier when the beta website becomes fully active (October-ish)

Feedback here in this topic please. Constructive criticism welcome. If you like it - please also say so

I can't post messages, what am I doing wrong, or not doing at all?                                                                                                                                                                             

dont like it.                                                                                                                                                                             

Feedback: Got in to chat, couldn't send text, tried several times, head blagged, going to bed!

Sorry Matt but it isn't showing anyway of posting text, and white boxes everywhere don't easily identify who/which messages belong to. 
                                                                                                                                                                             

I can't find the chat room at all! On mobile *wheres my glasses                                                                                                                                                                             

Open new website ( https://beta.bikermatch.co.uk ) and login.
Then, as long as your profile is enabled, you will get a big blue button on the right of every page. The button will be fixed to the side so even when you scroll up and down it will still follow you around.

I call it the "chat flap" from now on :-D

Definitely different. I finally got in there, seems ok. I will try tomorrow when head isn't blagged 😜

Keep up the good work Matt !
                                                                                                                                                                             

Matt, in your emailyou asked for feedback back. While I did have a struggle to access the right hand side, once I did, it was a doddle to use                                                                                                                                                                              

Thanks guys for all the feedback, positive and negative.

I will take any of the negative feedback with a pinch of salt at the moment, until you've all had a week or two to at least play a bit more with the system. I understand a sudden and drastic change can be a bit daunting

Quick thoughts...very easy to use, and it's good to see the timing on the messages.
Losing the whisper ability seems to be a backward step, though, with a danger of driving people away into FaceBook chat, WhatsApp, etc.
                                                                                                                                                                             

Don't know, I feel the whisper is just duplicating the private messages feature. It's rarely used in the chatroom.
I also wanted to save space in the design... Don't know how I can fit the extra functions in (also colour changing) without filling the full screen on mobiles with just buttons. I want to maximise the visible number of chat messages

Managed to access the chat room just by touching the right of the screen but there's no 'chat flap' as you described Matt. Looks good tho nice and neat                                                                                                                                                                             

It won't let me log in keeps saying my user name or password is wrong but works on the original site ?                                                                                                                                                                              

Havent tried it as I am a standard member but the whisper feature was handy for having private chats in realtime while still being involved in chatroom proper. Just my two penn'th.                                                                                                                                                                             

Personally I have only used 'whisper' a hand full of times in the past.  I won't miss it.                                                                                                                                                                              

Jp, try using your email address and password instead of username. Didn't it work previously? Nothing has changed with the login page.

D6, I'll see if I can find a way to do the same with private messages so they're more instant

Really don't know why some people can't see the tab. I can't figure it out

Dammit... I just tried the chatroom on an iPad mini, and guess what! No chat flap!!!

F'ing Apple!!!                                                                                                                                                                             

I got in fine from my lappy but can't get chat to open on my phone (Samsung/Android)
Using the icons top left or right opens another menu and the chat link is there on both, just doesn't open chat.
                                                                                                                                                                             

So now we have effin' Samsung as well as effin' Apple......who's next i wonder...apologies to ALL android users in advance if they can't get into my profile                                                                                                                                                                             

I can check your profile Jinx, no problem there :shudder:   just not getting into new chatroom from the phone.