IRC Integration

[DeZmond]

Re: Idlers needed !

Hmm... the solution to this is to try and integrate IRC into the website, methinks. Some people will be put off by the fact that it's another program to download and install, and by offering a browser-based alternative everyone's happy.

If this is the case I'd be happy to come in and chat when I'm online, since I'm often changing PC's and few have an IRC application already installed.

[mod]Split post from haven's topic and gave it a new thread.[/mod]

 

[BiG D]

Re: Idlers needed !

In my experience, anyway, the options for irc/webpage integration are few and rather poor.
If people have an issue with running another program, I'd push them towards an all-in-one instant messaging program. Most support IRC, and they'd be consolidating other programs into one...

 

[DeZmond]

True, but however poor a browser-based IRC client is, it can be accessed from almost anywhere - which is the issue here. Some people are, by definition, technophobic - they don't like installing anything they don't have to. Also, some people use the internet but can't install anything because of their user permissions. In these cases, a browser-based IRC client is desirable - it may be basic, but if you want more from it then you really need to get the appropriate client (mIRC or Xchat) and install that instead.

 

[SgtFury]

I must admit I would be partial to an inbrowser IRC which could be accessed from other computers rather than home *cough work cough*

 

[Ronin Storm]

I've played with a few, here and there. The Java ones can be alright, but the pure HTML ones often suffer problems, especially connecting to public IRC networks -- if more than a couple of people use the system you may find that everyone is banned off the network for apparently holding too many connections from a single client. Of course, the Java ones usually rely on the Sun Java client, which isn't packaged in IE by default any longer, so we're back to installing packages, and more dangerous ones at that.

Miranda has a neat little IRC client, and is the one I use when I want IRC. Also integrates with IRC, MSN and so on, but I use the native MSN client for the additional OS integration features (Remote Assistance et al).

A note on the side: chat clients in web pages are often a good way to end up having a web site banned on work firewalls as they hold a lot of connections open for a long time, and this sort of activity is pretty unmistakeable. All down to how fascist your IS department or AUP is.

 

[BiG D]

I used to use a java irc client from work. It pissed me off so much I ended up installing mIRC

 

[Pestcontrol]

You can request an ip to be whitelisted for multiple connections, although i wouldn't know what quakenet's policy on this is.

I also thought MS were legally required to either use sun's java or no java at all. Surely there's some applet that works? I quite liked the original one a few thn website iterations back.

 

[Carth]

You can request an ip to be whitelisted for multiple connections, although i wouldn't know what quakenet's policy on this is.

I think they allow this kind of stuff during LANs, but I don't know about permanent whitelisting.

In my opinion anyone who won't install an IRC client, won't idle on IRC anyway. IRC is all about the idling, people on web clients tend to join, say some stuff, see no reply, and leave two minutes later.

 

[DeZmond]

Well seeing as IRC stands for Idling Relay Chat I see your point.

 

[Pestcontrol]

I think the shoutbox may get in the way of promoting people to get on irc, too. It's turning into a chat of its own, because it updates realtime.

 

[DeZmond]

Well, those wishing to use a java IRC client can use the one over at the THN Comedy site. It connects directly to #thehaven channel over on QNet. I've had a try of it and it seems to be pretty good, as these things go.

You'll need to register, but weren't you going to do that anyway!?

 

[BiG D]

Your client is broken!
The username I used to sign up on the comedy site is not irc friendly, it has a space in it. This means the applet tries to sign me in as "BiG D" or "BiG D??" (where question marks are random numbers.) The issue is the name gets cropped at the space, so both the primary and alt nick are the same, and if it's taken, it won't sign me in. It'll just sit there and timeout.
Some sort of way to either specifiy my own nick, or have the space converted to an underscore before output would be nice. I've hacked my way in for the time being, anyway

 

[DeZmond]

Hmm, that 'tis wierd. Especially since it seemed to work when I was on yesterday. You could always just remember to use the /nick command when you arrive in the room.

I'll take a look at the code for you, though I can't promise too much yet.

 

[BiG D]

That's the issue. I can't get connected to change my nick. If someone is on quakenet using the nick "big" it will not let me connect. All I need is some code in there to fix this:

<param name="nick" value="BiG D" />
<param name="alternatenick" value="BiG D???" />

Anything would do... Have it crop the spaces itself, so it makes a valid random nick:

<param name="nick" value="BiG" />
<param name="alternatenick" value="BiG???" />

Or just convert the spaces to an underscore on output. Or even some javascript to ask for my nick when I enter the page would do...