Educated Angler 3.0 has implemented an integrated chat that will either open a new tab within your browser, or open a new browser window depending on how your browser is configured.  This flexibility allows you to keep your chat open while surfing the internet.

To start chatting simply click the Launch Chat link in the left column of the homepage.  You will be logged in automatically with your EA username and you're ready to chat.  Simply type in the text box, and either hit the enter key or click the send button.

Features

Sound Notification - When you have chat open but you are browsing in another window or on another tab and someone sends a message, you will hear a notification sound.  Additionally, you'll notice that the page title or tab title changes to include a number that indicates how many messages you have missed since you last checked.

Multiple Channels -  By default, when you join chat there is already a channel set up - EA Lounge - but any member can create their own channel easily as follows:

1. /join (e.g., /join "Big Salmon")
2. /invite (e.g., /invite t3pt6k "Big Salmon")

When you create a new channel using the join command it will open up a new tab in your chat window corresponding to the channel name you created, but at this point no other members can see it.  From that chat channel, issue the invite command and your new chat channel will appear in their chat windows.

A nice feature is that the tabs at the top of chat will flash when messages have been typed in any channel so you'll see when you should check it.

A special type of channel can also be created for private messaging between yourself and another member on chat.  Click on the name of a member in the member list (found in the right hand column) and click on the private message link. This will open a chat channel between you and that member automatically.

There are plenty of other things you can do in chat. You can:

• Select emoticons from an extensive list, and we'll add others per our member suggestions
• Change the text attributes like bold, italic, underline, and strike through
• Change the color of your text by clicking the C (color) and choosing a color from the palette that appears
• Turn sound notification on/off
• Collapse the emoticons
• Collapse the member list