WebBoard 2.0

The fast track to interactive conferencing

Interactive conferencing lets users from around the globe converse. Today, hundreds of conference servers and Internet Relay Chat (IRC) servers make Internet chat rooms hotter than ever.

Running a conference site is not difficult, because software andadministration manuals are at your fingertips. One software and administrationmanual combination, Building Your Own Web Conferences, by Susan B. Peckand Beverly Murray Scherf, (O'Reilly & Associates, 1997), is a complete bookand CD-ROM solution for Windows NT and Windows 95 Web masters who want to hostonline conferences. The kit includes O'Reilly's WebBoard 2.0 Web conferencingsoftware. This software solution lets Web masters host both message-basedconferences and online chat sessions via Web pages.

WebBoard lets Web masters create conference areas (similar to usenetnewsgroups) and interactive chat rooms (like IRC chat areas). Four conferencesare available: public conferences, which let anyone read and post messages;moderated conferences, which let anyone read postings, but a moderator mustapprove all postings; private conferences, which limit read and post privilegesto selected people; and read-only conferences, which let everyone read themessages in the conference, but only the systems administrator, moderator, orconference manager can post messages.

Creating conferences is simple. When you log on as the administrator, thesoftware's wizards help you create your conferences. Within each conference youcan create a chat area for people to interactively communicate. A smallJavaScript program permits this interactive communication. When a user entersthe chat area, the program downloads to the user's computer.

WebBoard's initial installation works with Internet InformationServer (IIS) or any Common Gateway Interface (CGI)- or Internet Server API(ISAPI)-compliant Web server, such as Netscape's FastTrack Server or PurveyorWebServer from Process Software. The WebBoard package includes its Web server,in case you install the package on a Win95 host or on an NT host without a Webserver. However, the software prefers the O'Reilly Web server, because itsupports HTML file attachments and is compact and efficient.

To install the software, I ran setup.exe off the distribution CD-ROM.The first question you must answer concerns the Web server. You must selecteither the O'Reilly Web server or an existing Web server. If you already have anexisting Web site, you still might install the O'Reilly Web server but have itmonitor an IP port other than 80 (the default HTTP port). You can use theO'Reilly Web server and all its features to host your Web conferences, yet stillmaintain your existing site. I installed the package into my IIS environment.

After you select Web servers, the install program prompts you for yourserver's name, the name of your mail server (new users automatically get emailwhen they sign on to your Web conference site), and some information about theWebBoard administrator. The program uses this information to create anadministrative account so you can administer your Web conferences with theWebBoard software.

After you install the software, you need to connect to your WebBoard sitefrom a client computer to set up your conferences. To complete this setup, Ilogged on as the administrative user and ran the Create Conference wizard.Screen 1 shows a typical conference screen. I had this conference running in 5minutes, including the time I took to install the software. WebBoard's wizardslet you add new conferences.

To use the WebBoard software, your customers must connect to a URL.For example, on a stock IIS installation (such as my server), WebBoard installsitself into a virtual directory that you can access by connecting to http:///WebBoard/webboard.dll. To access the software, your customers pointtheir Web browsers to this address. After they connect, they must provide alogon name and password. New users can log on by providing basic userinformation and selecting a user ID and password.

WebBoard is an excellent product. You get a copy of the manual and theWebBoard software capable of hosting two virtual boards and 10 conferences perboard. I highly recommend this software package for any small to midsizedcompany looking to establish a Web presence with interactive conferencingcapabilities.