How to install MSN Live chat messenger on your Joomla Site
Intro
Putting a chat window on your website is a great way to talk to your customers or visitors in real time. There are alot of chat widgets you can use but i have found MSN messenger the best. The reasons are that you can have the chat integrated with your mobile phone, and it will always stay on. Google Talk is a close second, though. Hate to actually say that. If you run a joomla site, and want to get the MSN messenger chat widget setup here is the guide. You will also need to setup a windows hotmail account too. This is what the chat widget connects through.
Where to get the MSN chat code
Once you have your windows live or hotmail account, just sign into it, and then go to this link It is the link to the section in hotmail that has your messenger code settings. You will need to tick the box "Allow anyone on the web to see my presence and send me messages." and then go to the create HTML. This will allow you to decide on the color and icon. Once you have this you can get the HTML javascript code, and then log into your joomla website.
Where to Install the code on Joomla
Just go to your module manager, and add custom html code. Make sure that you've already turned your "Default WYSIWYG Editor" off in the global configuration setup. This stops the code disappearing. Now, take the MSN chat code and paste it into your module, name it, choose the location that you want it to show in your template, and then save it.
Trouble Shooting MSN chat widget
I had the error show up when i pasted the actual code directly into an article.
Server Error in '/Conversation' Application.
I was able to fix this error, if you want to place the code into an article, then you can use the option to {loadposition }
Load position is a way of inserting a joomla module directly into an article using the word loadposition anywhere in the article. To use this feature, you should assign your msn widget a position name, i called my position "livechat" and then I went to my article and used the code {loadposition livechat}
This loaded the msn chat module, and removed this server error.
Staying online
If you want to show your status as always online, then you can just leave your msn chat program running, or if you want to tie your phone to your msn chat widget, then you can sign in with your messenger on your phone, and you have the option to stay signed in. This way if you are connected to the net on your phone, you will always show up as being online, and you can be contacted.