Chat layouts

The Web Chat comes in six layouts. They all connect to the same rooms and the same people; only the window around the conversation changes. Everyone starts in Bubbles. Switch at any time: your choice is remembered in this browser, and you stay in your rooms with the same nickname while the page changes.

How to switch

• Bubbles: tap You (the smiley at the left, or at the bottom on a phone), then Settings and layout.
• Spotlight: the ⚙ button at the top right.
• Stage: You at the bottom (on a computer: the faces at the top), then Settings and layout.
• Deck: the ⚙ button in the top bar.
• Live Chat: the ⚙ button next to your name.
• Classic: Settings (the gear), then Layout.

A link can also open the chat in a given layout (see Share a room link with a look below).

If a look sticks and you cannot get out of it, open https://www.conferencerooms.org/chat-reset/: it clears what this browser remembered (see Reset the chat look).

Bubbles (the default)

A messenger you already know. Your messages are on the right in navy, everybody else's on the left with their picture and name.

• Left rail: Chats (every room and private chat you have open, with the last message and an unread count), Rooms (every open room with how many people are online, and a box to type any room name), People (who is in the room), Mentions (every message that names you) and You (your nickname, settings and layout).
• Join a room: Rooms, then pick one, or type a name such as music and choose Join #music. You can also type /join #music.
• Leave a room: point at the room in Chats and click the × (on a phone the × is always there), or open Room info (the ⓘ at the top) and choose Leave room. A room you left shows Join again.
• Close a private chat: the × next to it in Chats.
• Room info (the ⓘ, or click the room name): the topic, how the room works in plain words ("Only operators change the topic"…), who is here, and Leave room. Click anyone's picture for their profile with Message and Mention.
• Light or dark: You → Settings and layout → Light or dark. The dark look is black and white. Follow my device (the default) switches with your phone or computer.
• On a phone: one screen at a time. The chat list with the tabs at the bottom, or a chat with a back arrow at the top left.

Classic

The original three-pane chat: rooms on the left, the conversation in the middle, people on the right, with the text formatting toolbar, buddy list, Save this chat, Share this room, Mark me away, the twelve color themes and the accent colors. See A tour of the Web Chat and Settings and themes. CR Translation rooms always open in Classic, the layout that is translated into Korean, Malay, French and Spanish.

Spotlight

Messages grouped by person with their picture once per group, joins and leaves folded into one quiet line (click it to see who), day separators, search inside the room (⌕), and people in sections (room staff, voice, everyone). Point at a message to reply or to message that person privately.

Stage

Made for phones, like the chat next to a live stream: a wide stream of messages, the faces of who is here at the top, the topic pinned as a card and one-tap reactions (👋 😂 👍 🎉 🔥 ❓) above the message box. At the bottom of a phone: Chat, People, Rooms and You.

Deck

For regulars and room staff who like the keyboard: tabs for every room and private chat, Ctrl+K to jump anywhere or run a command, two rooms side by side on a wide screen (Ctrl+\), "/" suggestions with a line of help for each command, people filters (Staff, Voice, Away) and a 24-hour clock. Press ? for every key.

Live Chat

One plain white chat window and nothing else: the room, your name and settings at the top, the message box at the bottom. Private messages to you show up in the same window marked private, with Reply privately. Good for a help desk or a page where people should just talk.

Share a room link with a look

Add a layout code after the room name in a chat link:

For example https://www.conferencerooms.org/chat/lobby/lc/ opens #lobby in Live Chat, and /chat/lobby/bb/wh/ opens it in Bubbles, light. A visitor who then picks another layout keeps their own choice, unless the link also has lk (lock the look): then the layout, color theme, light or dark, accent, text size and spacing stay exactly as the link says and Settings shows them greyed out. For example /chat/lobby/lc/lk/ is a Live Chat window nobody can restyle. Links that hide buttons or ask questions (the website chat options) open in Classic unless they carry a layout code.

Next: Join a room.