Adding Chat into a Multiplayer Game

[Qwerty]

Well, I'm going to add live chat (probably AJAX) into my game. The question is how would I add it?

Because the game requires clicking, and loading different pages over and over, I can't really have a section of the screen devoted to chat if its constantly being reloaded.

I could use frames, and have the lower or upper quarter of the screen show the chat window.

Or I could have a popup, but because the game window will be clicked on a lot, it would be forced to the back of the desktop, and the player might forget to look at it, resulting in lack of activity.

Does anyone have any suggestions on how to show the chat box?

[MystressNyx]

We use a popup chat, but also display chat activity on the main summary page. That way as people are checking their stats and whatnot, they see what's going on in chat and are drawn in / back in. It's worked well in all of our games and participation has never suffered for it.

[toxin]

Something some of you may find of use.
http://www.php-development.ru/software/instant-messenger.php
The software can be used to add an instant messaging service to a community website or a private network(VDS/VPS or dedicated server required)

There are other cool things on the site also.

[Qwerty]

Yeah, I think I'll add a popup option, and the normal chat box but with an option to hide it if using the popup.