BlaB! WS Pro

BlaB! WS Pro Demo

BlaB! WS Pro is a realtime group chat system (client & server) based on websockets. Client app and Admin CP are with mobile friendly responsive design, HTML5 and CSS3 compliant, support any browser and HiDPI displays ready. The client side is written in PHP, HTML/CSS and JavaScript and using MySQL as a backend. The server side is written in Python and compiled with all dependencies in a single executable file.

Requirements (self-hosted PHP/MySQL client, websocket server hosted on our servers)

Any Linux / Windows host or shared hosting service with PHP/MySQL and PHP mysqli extension enabled
If you are still running PHP5: PHP json extension enabled (bundled with PHP7)
Optional: PHP fileinfo extension enabled in order to recognize file types incl. uploaded avatars
Optional: php_curl - required for VPN/ProxyGuard
Optional: php_curl or allow_url_fopen = On - required for Facebook Login

help

Not sure what you have? Upload a PHP file with content <?php phpinfo();?> and navigate to it with your browser. CTRL+F and search the page for curl, fileinfo and allow_url_fopen.

Requirements (self-hosted PHP/MySQL client & self-hosted websocket server)

A Linux based server (VPS) with Apache/Nginx, PHP5/PHP7 and MySQL/MariaDB in working state.
Access to that server via SSH as a root user or as a user with sudo privileges.
PHP shell_exec enabled in php.ini (required to start/stop server, alternative method is available).
Basic knowledge about Linux and some basic terminal skills: running commands, editing files.
Supported distros: Debian 8 Jessie+ / Ubuntu 16.04+ / RHEL 7+ / CentOS 7+ / Fedora

Features

Supports any browser incl. mobile browsers, no PHP/HTML/JS/CSS errors, warnings or notices.
HTML5 and CSS3 compliant: passes W3C tests with a single warning about scaling.
Native code only - no external frameworks/libraries used, apart from WebRTC and highlightjs / JSQR loaded separately when needed.
Blazingly fast and responsive even on low-end smartphones and tablets (2 videos with Moto G 2013).

Best viewed on any device - from 4-inch smartphones to huge 8k displays.
Resizable layout, run it fullscreen or in iframes as small as 360x360px (see the video above).
Registration system allowing 'guest' users.
Innovative method to reset forgotten passwords without sending emails.
Online status: Online, Away, Occupied, Unavailable, DND
Ignore option - chatters can choose to hide messages from other chatters.
Private one-2-one chats inside the main chat box.
Flood control - forced interval between messages.
Different sound notifications on (1) new messages, (2) when users enter/leave chat, (3) private messages, (4) messages in background.
Material icons, EmojiOne emoticons, native emojis, stickers & Tenor GIFs.
Doodle, share and play doodles in chat, doodle on images.
User settings: language, sound on/off, 24h/12h. Automatic timezone.
UTF-8 multilanguage support incl. usernames with non-Latin letters.
Frontend translated in Čeština, Dansk, Deutsch, Ελληνικά, English, Español, Français, bahasa Indonesia, Italiano, Magyar, Nederlands, Polski, Português-BR, Română, Русский, Türkçe.
Widgets - display information such as users online, latest visitors, top10 chatters on external pages.
Predefined mottos, users can put their own one-line motto instead.
A set of avatars to pick from and an option to upload an image/photo.
Users can create and vote in polls
TextStreams - streaming text for poems, jokes, greetings
Room and PM transcripts
A custom panel tab and a top-panel block to load custom content such as online radio station.
User groups with permissions. Adjustable rules to automatically move users from one group to another.
Stealth users - invisible in chat; do not appear in logs
Admins & Moderators can kick/gag and ban users and IP addresses directly from chat.
VPN & Proxy Guard - users behind VPN and proxies are not allowed to enter the chat.
Two ready to use Android apps available on Google Play.
An easy way to create your own custom mobile app for Android and IOS.
Brand-free: there is no 'powered by' line and no link back to us.
Free install and integration on request (new customers only).
Mobile friendly and easy-to-use server console to manage your server in case you host it on our servers.

ESC-centric - the ESC key closes any element that is on top and opens the main panel in chat and the menu in Admin CP. On mobile, a swipe from the left edge opens the main panel in chat and the menu in Admin CP. Users can scroll with arrow keys, mouse wheel and by dragging. A double click swaps between select mode and drag to scroll mode. CTRL+SHIFT+1-9 activates rooms 1-9. CTRL+SHIFT+L/R arrows cycles through rooms.

Any file can be uploaded and posted in chat: images, audio mp3 and video mp4 that are recognized automatically and can be streamed while a link to any other file is displayed instead. Users can share and watch YouTube, Twitch.TV, TikTok & Vimeo videos, Giphy GIFs, post & listen to SoundCloud tracks, playlists and AudioBoom podcasts. Users can post an address and display in chat a map (Google Maps), source code (the language is recognized and highlighted) and there is also an IRC-like /roll dice feature (up to 99d99 with sum/avg).

Channels and Rooms

Channels

A channel is a separate installation of BlaB! WS Pro client that communicates to a separate instance of blabws-pro-server. Channels are totally isolated from one another and with separate admin panels. Channels can share users, user groups (group permissions can be the same or different) and static files: emoticons, stickers, sounds etc. With a self-hosted server you can install multiple channels under one domain at no additional cost.

Rooms

Rooms are separate chat spaces under one channel. Every chatter is connected to all the rooms and receives any message posted in any room with a visual notification and a different sound notification for messages posted in background. From version 19.11↗ - hidden rooms: only selected user groups can see and chat in hidden rooms.

BlaB! WS Pro supports voice & video messages in Firefox, Firefox Mobile and any desktop/mobile Chromium based browser - Chrome, Chrome Mobile, Opera, Brave, Vivaldi. The length and the quality of a voice/video message can be adjusted from the Admin CP.

Voice & video messages do NOT work in mobile apps as the required API is disabled in WebView.
Apple Safari (both desktop and mobile) and Microsoft Internet Explorer are NOT supported.
If you install BlaB! WS Pro (client) on a hosting service with UPLOAD_MAX_SIZE=1M the length of a video message would be 10 seconds with the lowest possible quality (see our demo chats as a reference).

BlaB! WS Pro supports P2P voice and video calls over WebRTC in all modern desktop & mobile browsers. It is generally accepted that only 70-80% of the users can technically participate in a P2P voice/video call. A P2P voice/video call requires on both sides:

A modern browser that supports WebRTC (latest Firefox, Safari, Chrome and Chromium derivates).
Obviously hardware equipment - microphone and camera.
Decent hardware & Internet connection to encode, broadcast, receive and decode compressed audio/video streams in realtime.
P2P calls may be prevented by a restrictive firewall or a complicated NAT (Network Address Translation).
P2P voice & video calls presently do NOT work in our mobile apps BlaB! Q and BlaB! G.

Machines

TimeMachine displays messages and announcements at intervals. TheGodFather scans public & private messages and replies with predefined phrases on a keyword match. NewsMachine responds with the latest news (country-wise & language-wise) on a keyword match or posts random news in chat. GIF machine posts a GIF image when a keyword match is found.

More about machines...

Integration with forums and CMS

BlaB! WS Pro supports integration with IPS Suite (v4.x), Joomla, MyBB, phpBB3 (3.1+), Simple Machines, Vanilla, vBulletin (v5.x), Woltlab Suite, WordPress, Xenforo. People registered and logged onto your forum/CMS enter the chat with their usernames directly, without a login prompt.

If you would like to integrate with another forum/CMS - contact us prior to placing your order.

BlaB! WS Pro is NOT a Module, Plugin, Add-on. It does NOT touch your forum/CMS installation so that you can upgrade it easily and even switch BlaB! WS Pro to work with another, e.g. remove phpBB and install vBulletin and by replacing a couple of variables, BlaB! WS Pro will recognize your vBulletin users the same way it did it with phpBB. The registration/login part of BlaB! WS Pro still exists. It depends on your settings whether people are allowed to register new BlaB! WS Pro accounts.

You can import user groups from your forum or CMS so that moderators are moderators in chat, those who are banned are not allowed to send chat messages etc. A Forum/CMS user enters the chat with permissions based on their PRIMARY group from your forum/CMS no matter how many groups he/she is a members of. There are also some differences:

Vanilla - 3 hardcoded groups: Admin, Moderator, Member
Woltlab Suite - permissions are based on Ranks
Joomla - custom groups are NOT supported, the user is considered a member of the group (from Assigned User Groups) with the greatest ID between 1 and 9
WordPress - 4 hardcoded groups: Contributor, Author, Editor, Administrator (alternative WordPress extension that imports all WP groups is available upon request)

We provide information and step-by-step instructions how to embed BlaB! WS Pro into IPS Suite 4, Joomla, MyBB, phpBB, Vanilla, vBulletin 5, Woltlab Suite, WordPress and Xenforo using an available option in their ACP to create static pages or a similar plugin.

BlaB! WS Pro Demo

BlaB! WS Pro USD 35⁰⁰ (downloadable PHP/MySQL client, websocket server hosted on our servers).
This initial pack includes:

BlaB! WS Pro client and 3 months blabws-server-pro hosting.
Access to our support center: download area and ticket system.

We accept PayPal, credit cards, wire transfers and BITCOIN.

ORDER BLAB! WS PRO (client + 3 months websocket server hosting)

BlaB! WS Pro USD 95⁰⁰ (downloadable PHP/MySQL client & downloadable self-hosted websocket server).
Allows you to run multiple instances (client & server) under one domain.
One year support and upgrades (this is not a subscription; your chat will continue to work afterwards).
We accept PayPal, credit cards, wire transfers and BITCOIN.

ORDER BLAB! WS PRO (client & server)

Members Only!

Download BlaB! WS Pro (server & client)
How to install BlaB! WS Pro (self-hosted client, server hosted on our servers)
- Login to your console with the provided via email credentials, generate an ACCESSKEY and start your server.
- Download BlaB! WS Pro (client) from the members area and unzip the files in an empty folder e.g. /mychat
- Upload the folder /mychat to your server via FTP; CHMOD config.php to 666 and /attachments to 777.
- Navigate with your browser to YOUR-URL.COM/mychat/ - the install will start automatically.
- Select install type: blabws-server-pro hosted on another host (our server hosting service or elsewhere).
- Step 1: submit Server URL, ACCESSKEY and ProxyPass Token as they appear under your server console » Help
- Step 2: submit MySQL host, user, password and database name.
- Step 3: create your admin account (username, password, email etc)
- Done!
How to install BlaB! WS Pro: (self-hosted client & self-hosted server)

BlaB! WS Pro - FAQ
BlaB! WS Pro - how to integrate with forums and CMS
Submit a support ticket

Select and copy a color scheme & import from ACP » Style

Notifications - select sounds & create your own notification file

Download emoticon packs {Emoji One - default & Noto Emoji}
Unzip and replace emocodes.php and emoticons.css in the main BlaB! WS Pro (client) folder. Rebuild the cache from ACP » Settings.

Download avatar packs
Unzip and upload in BlaB! WS Pro /avatars. Rebuild the cache from ACP » Settings. Create your own avatars at face.co or hexatar.com. Geek avatars are provided by GoodStuffNoNonsense. All avatars are editable with Inkscape.

Download sticker packs
Unzip and upload in a separate folder(s) under /stickers. Rebuild the cache from ACP » Settings. All stickers are editable with Inkscape.

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Page updated: 2020-05-07