Go to the front page. You'll see a big box that says ChatBox. In silver you'll see a little bar with 4 things on it:
ChaTBox Refresh Auto Refresh (Only when logged in) Archives Login/Logout
ChatBox: Just a marker, does nothing.
Refresh: Refreshes chat-box. No point if Auto Refresh is turned on.
AutoRefresh: Automatically refreshes chat-box when a new reply is posted.
Archives is basically a chat log.
Login/Logout should be obvious, just click it to login.
ChatBox Commands Explained:
/kick This is a moderator and administrator only command, and nobody else will be able to use it. It kicks the user out, but they are able to simply log back in.
/ban is a command for moderators and administrators. It will ban the user until further notice.
/unban will unban a user. As will the upper ones, only mods and admins can use.
/mod is administrators only. It'll moderate a member.
/me will show up like *USERNAME *write action here*
/abs REASONHERE will make you away. If you supply a reason it will be desplayed to all online users.
/away serves the same purpose as the abs command.
All smilies of the regular forum can be used in the chatbox.
Using Colors and text Bolding, Itallics, Strike through, and underlining:
All of those can be performed the way you normally would on the forums.