How-to Guide – The Chat Room

The My CRC Connections chat room is a great place to share personal experiences, pose questions, and discuss topics related to colon cancer. Or, just stop by and say hi! You can chat anytime.

In this how-to guide, you’ll learn how to:

- Find and access the chat room

- See which members are online - Start chatting in the main room or privately

- Change your chat settings, plus tips and tricks

How to Find and Access the Chat Room

Before we get started, you’ll need to make sure you are using Internet Explorer, Firefox, Safari or Chrome as your web browser. If you're using a different or outdated browser, it might not be compatible with My CRC Connections or the chat

room. You’ll also need to make sure cookies and JavaScript are enabled on your browser.

You can access the chat room in two ways. You can either visit the chat room as a

page or you can visit the chat room as a pop up box. To use the chat room in either of these forms, you’ll need to make sure you are signed in to My CRC Connections.

To access the chat room as a page, hover your mouse over the “Chat” tab and click

on “Start Chatting.”

To access the chat room as a pop up, click on the box in the bottom right corner of

the screen titled “Main Room.” To close the pop up, simply click on “Main Room”

again.

The great thing about using the chat through the pop up box is that you can access

it from any page on the site. So, if you’re browsing the Discussion Forum and

suddenly decide to move to a different post or page, you’ll still be able to see the

chat room and chat history. All you have to do is click the “Main Room” box in the

bottom right corner.

See Which Members are Online

Before you start chatting, you’ll probably want to see who is online. If you’re on the

chat room page, you’ll see online members in a column on the left.

If you’re using the pop up chat room, you can find the online members by clicking

on the “Members Online” box in the bottom right corner of your screen:

Although members may be online, they may not be active in the chat room. An

easy way to see if people are chatting is to check the timestamp.

The timestamp is the time at the bottom of the chat room that shows what time the

last message was sent.

In the example above, you can see that the last message was sent at 9:21 AM.

Start Chatting

To start chatting with everyone in the Main Room, open the chat room page or pop

up. In the text box at the very bottom of the screen, type your message.

Even if there are already people chatting in the chat room, feel free to jump in, say

hi and join the conversation!

If the chat room is empty or seems inactive, try saying “hello!” Once you’ve sent

your message, other online members will hear a “beep.” Some users may be doing

something else until they hear the beep or waiting for someone else to get the ball

rolling. Your greeting may encourage them to come join you in the chat room! My

CRC Connections moderators are also usually in the chat room on weekdays. If you

don’t get a response at first, check back later! The busiest times in the chat room

tend to be lunchtime or in the evening.

Private Chat

If you’d like to chat privately with someone about a sensitive or personal issue, you

can invite them to a private chat. Unlike the Main Room, private chats are not

public and are not moderated.

To start a private chat when you’re on the chat room page, double click an online

member’s name and type your message.

In the diagram below, you can see the Main Room and three private chats. To

switch between the private chats, simply click on the member’s name. To go back

to the Main Room, click on “Main Room.”

Main Room

Private Chats

Online Members

To close a private chat, hover your mouse over the member’s name of the private

chat you’d like to close and click the “X” that appears to the right of the member’s

name.

To start a private chat when you are using the Main Room as a pop up, click on an

online member’s name.

To minimize a private chat pop up window, simply click on the member’s name.

Minimizing the pop up window will not end the private chat, it will only hide it until

you click on the member’s name again.

To close a private chat pop up window, click the “X” to the right of the member’s

name.

Chat Settings, Tips and Tricks

Ever wonder what the “beep” or “ping” sound is when you’re logged in to My CRC

Connections? It’s the chat room!

Online Members Private Chats Main Room

When you hear this sound, you know that members are chatting together. Listen

out for the “ping,” and you’ll know when others are in the chat room. Or, if you’d

prefer, turn off the chat sounds.

Chat Icon Reference Guide

Ever wonder, “What does that button do?” Here’s a quick list of icons you’ll

commonly see when using the chat room and what they do.

Unread messages: The number display is the number of unread messages in

a chat room or private chat.

Settings and online/offline: The gear button displays your chat settings. You

can choose to turn the chat room sounds on and off. The green light shows you are

online and available to chat. This will change to red if you choose to disconnect

from chat and you will not be listed under “Online Members.”

Emoticons: This button gives you a list of “emoticons” or smiley faces you can

use when chatting.

Minimize: Clicking this bar will minimize your pop up chat window. You can

restore the chat window by clicking on the name of the chat room.

Pop out button: This button will pop your chat room out into its own window.

How to Pop Out the Chat Room

If you’d like to expand the chat room window to make it easier to read

conversations in the chat room, you can pop out the chat into its own window. To

do this, click on the button at the top of a pop up chat box.

This will pop the chat window out and you can minimize the other chat boxes. Once

the chat is in its own window, you can adjust the height of the pop-up boxes and

you can adjust the overall dimensions when you pop-out the chat room.

Having trouble with this guide or the chat room? Email the My CRC Connections team at mycrcconnections@ccalliance.org.

Thanks,

The Colon Cancer Alliance Team

My CRC Connections is an online community for those affected by colorectal cancer powered by the Colon Cancer Alliance.