You can chat on the web, by instant messenger or using software called IRC.

They all work in a pretty similar way and there's nothing to stop you from using them all.

So, one day you might go to a web chat about DIY on BBCi but the next day use your Yahoo! Messenger to go on the Yahoo! parenting chat.

The basics

There are three parts to a chat window. Everything that you and the other people are chatting about appears in the biggest box.

The chat window

Then, there's the box where you type your messages. These are only sent when you press the 'Return' key.

The box you type text into

The last part of the screen is a list of everyone who is chatting. Their nicknames appear when they enter the chat and disappear when they leave it. So, if the list is empty it means there's no-one there and if you started chatting you would be talking to yourself!

The user list

Web chat

The easiest way to chat is through the web because you don't need to download or install any special chat software. You just go to a website with a chat room and press a button that normally says something like 'Enter Chat room'.