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When it comes to consumer orientated online subscription services, America Online is pretty much the undisputed leader. Two of the services AOL offers that continue to be the most popular are email and chat rooms. It's a fact that we all like to communicate, especially to others that share a common interest. That's why theme based chat rooms are constantly packed with users eager to share their ideas and experiences. So if your web site contains something you feel would be of interest to others, why not enable it with a chat room?

Having a message board or email on your site can be frustrating because visitors have to wait for a reply that may or may not come. But a live chat room gives immediate satisfaction. It lets your visitors commingle with other visitors in real time. It also gives them an opportunity to chat with you or someone representing your web site. For example, if your web site is business orientated, the chat room could be an online customer service room. Customers could come in and air their complaints, get their technical questions answered or even have the status of their orders checked immediately.

There are many products available that will enable your web site with a chat room. But to get more of the features desired in a chat room environment, you'll want one that uses the Java abilities of most modern web browsers such as Netscape or Microsoft's Internet Explorer. One of the better chat programs I've come across is the newly released 3.0 version of DigiChat from Digi-Net Technologies. .

DigiChat follows the spirit of a platform independent Internet as it works on Java enabled browsers viewed on both Windows and Macintosh based computers. In the most popular and least expensive configuration, Digi-Net's servers will be the host of your chats for $59.95 a month.

Once it is set up, the operation is mostly transparent to your web site's visitors. When someone wishes to enter your web site chat, they click on a chat link you've created on your site. If it is their first visit, their browser automatically downloads the DigiChat Java applet and then activates it. Users are presented with a log on screen that asks them for a nickname and then opens a chat window into which they can participate. Whatever they type is seen by everyone in the chat room.

DigiChat offers a very nice range of options that let users select an avatar icon, define their own profile to be viewed by others and control most of the appearance functions such as font size, color and style. Other features let users send private messages to others in the room, flag or ignore messages from specific users, display a count of users in a particular room and switch to another room if available. The latest version allows for the creation of a buddy list.

DigiChat's ChatMaster application gives you executive controls such as the ability to eject any unruly visitors from the chat room. You can redefine any obscene words so that if typed by anyone in the room, a replacement word or phrase is displayed in its place. With a little creativity on your part, this ability can become quite amusing.

Comparing DigiChat to AOL's chat rooms is a give and take adjustment. AOL offers a more secure environment in that if someone is disruptive, you have someone at AOL to whom you can complain. However, the chat will probably be long over before anything can be done. With DigiChat, you can eject them from the room immediately. I think in the end it's a wash. Users of AOL chat rooms should adjust easily and users new to a chat will like DigiChat's intuitive operation and context sensitive help window.

But DigiChat's most important advantage over AOL's chat rooms doesn't lie in its features but rather in its accessibility to more people. With DigiChat, your visitors don't need to be an AOL subscriber. But anyone wanting to participate in an AOL chat must subscribe to AOL. However anyone on AOL can still use DigiChat and participate. So basically, using DigiChat opens up your web site chat to most everyone on the Internet.

www.digichat.com