<h3>What is UserChat by phpLoaded?</h3>

<p>It is a WordPress plugin that lets your website&rsquo;s registered users chat with each other. It comes packed with lots of features, some of them are described below. Its look and feel looks similar to popular social network platforms.</p>

<ul>
	<li>Supports Emoticons and HD emoticons, 2 packs are provided by default, more can be added</li>
	<li>Supports file attachments during chat</li>
	<li>Supports custom contact list creation method by sending chat requests(like friend requests on facebook)</li>
	<li>Everyone can chat from admin panel too! chat with users while working on your website!!</li>
	<li>10 color themes to change the user&rsquo;s mood.</li>
	<li>Very less server resource usage by using browser cache storage engine.</li>
	<li>Ping time can be adjusted as per the server to get best output.</li>
</ul>

<p>&nbsp;</p>

<h3>Can i run it on shared hosting?</h3>

<p>Yes. This plugin does not involves anything that requires additional configuration to run. In fact, it is espicially designed to run on slow servers, including shared hosting.</p>

<p>&nbsp;</p>

<h3>What are the basic requirements?</h3>

<ul>
	<li>WordPress 4.3 or above</li>
	<li>PHP 5.0 or above</li>
	<li>MySQL 5 or above</li>
</ul>

<p>&nbsp;</p>

<h3>Installation</h3>

<p><strong>Method 1 - Using cpanel or FTP</strong></p>

<ul>
	<li>Download the zip file and extract the contents.</li>
	<li>Make sure you&#39;re running WordPress version 4.3 or better. It won&#39;t work with too older versions.</li>
	<li>A folder named <strong><em>userchat-phploaded</em></strong> will be created. Upload the <strong><em>userchat-phploaded</em></strong> folder to your plugins directory (plugins/userchat-phploaded).</li>
	<li>Activate the plugin through the &#39;plugins&#39; page in WP.</li>
	<li>See <strong><em>UserChat Settings</em></strong> tab in WordPress admin for more settings. Your plugin is now ready!</li>
</ul>

<p>&nbsp;</p>

<p><strong>Method 2 - Using upload option in WordPress admin panel</strong></p>

<ul>
	<li>Login to Wordpress admin of website, Goto plugins &gt;&gt; Add New page. Click on upload link on this page.</li>
	<li>Select the zip file provided and upload. Activate plugin when upload completes, through the &#39;plugins&#39; page in WP.</li>
	<li>See <em><strong>UserChat Settings</strong></em> tab in WordPress admin for more understanding and other options. Your plugin is now ready!</li>
</ul>

<p>&nbsp;</p>

<h3>Usage Instructions</h3>

<p>As soon as you activate the plugin, you should goto <strong><em>UserChat Settings</em></strong> tab in wordpress and configure options. The settings do not require any expertise knowledge but still are well explained there. Sometimes you need to clear HTML browser cache to see some changes. So even if you have saved the settings, you still might have to click <strong>clear cache</strong> button.</p>

<p>If you decide to use personal contacts mode, you will have to create a page or post where users can add people to their contacts. To create the contact list, place a shortcode <strong>[userchat_contacts]</strong> on a page or post. This shortcode lists everyone in your website except you(the logged in person). When a user click on any user, it adds them to their contact list only after the other person also accepts. You should now see a sidebar contacting users that are approved from both sides, click on those to open chatbox and chat.</p>

<p>&nbsp;</p>

<h3>Points to Remember</h3>

<ol>
	<li>Profile pictures of userchat are different than gravatar. Users can change them in settings icon. Refer screenshots for clear understanding.</li>
	<li>This script uses HTML cache or html5 storage, hence if you clear your browser&#39;s cache, some basic settings like theme are reset.</li>
	<li>For screens smaller than 1200 pixels in width, the chat list can be minimised, however for more wider screens, this contact list appears as a sidebar.</li>
	<li>Icon packages provided with this plugin are free for public use from its authors. However if you wish to create your own icon package, <a href="http://phploaded.com/page/userchat-iconpack-generator.html">click here</a>.</li>
</ol>


