Add an IRC Chatbox to your website!

   As usual with my other instructions, I'll explain how I got to this point. I was scrounging around the farther reaches of cyberspace to look for a suitable I.R.C. client with a GUI interface to work with as part of my project to connect everyone I know since we've just recently graduated. After 5 days, I started to give up, then I went back to the I.R.C. Chat-room wanting to talk to some of the regulars there. Before I typed a single word, I noticed a little button on the upper left. That little button put chat-rooms on 2 of my websites. It isn't the most sophisticated, but most people can access it quite readily (which would be what I wanted at the time: Simple, Accessible, Free).

Step 1: Short Intro about IRC

(If you want to get down to business, go straight to step 2)

I.R.C. is short for Internet Relay Chat . From the name it's obvious what it is. This is how it works (today anyway): You download a program that will enable you to use I.R.C., this is called an I.R.C. client. The client asks you to select a server of your choice. Once you have connected to that server, you have the option to open up a channel list (a list of channels in that server) either with a text-based command, or a button (depending on the user interface of your client). You may connect to one (or more) channels and chat with the other users in there. You may want to search around for the list of commands as they can be useful to you yourself in the future, but for my purposes this is optional, as I'm only telling you how to add I.R.C. capabilities to your website.

Also, before I forget, you need a little bit of HTML knowledge for this to work, otherwise you wouldn't have any idea where to stick the code (to be explained).

Comments

[pfg23]

Hi, promising article, but I can't find the "little button" on http://www.instructables.com/community/Instructables-Chat-Room. Your first paragraph says it's in the upper right. Step 2 says it's in the upper left. When I go to the page I see a "Go" button, some unwrapped text (I'm using Firefox), a menu of social network badges, but no "add chat" button. Any ideas where it went?

[nutsandbolts_64]

Oh sorry, my bad, it's supposed to be in the upper left corner. Hold on, you see a "go" button? Mind giving me a screenshot of it?

[pfg23]

Here's the screenshot. There appear to be some formatting problems with the page in Firefox. Not so much in Chrome, but still no button.

[nutsandbolts_64]

Oh, no, not that, I meant the chat box at the bottom of the post, just above the comments.

[pfred2]

Calling an IRC channel a "room" is kind of ignorant. AOL has "rooms" if you'd like one of those. Well, AOL did at one time. I'm not so sure what they have today. But IRC still has channels, not "rooms".

[nutsandbolts_64]

Kinda ticks people off if I called it a "chat-channel", don't you think?

[pfred2]

Ragging on gnoobz about calling IRC channels rooms is a time honored tradition. I just thought I'd get my digs in on you is all. The fact remains IRC doesn't have rooms, but channels though. It usually goes somewhat like this:

(the following is a dramatization the reality is typically far harsher)

<newbie> wow this is a great room!
<IRC-reg> IRC has channels, AOL has roomz you stoopid gnoob
<reg_idler> newbie: Yeah you llamah.
<IRC_neo> wholly idler even said something
<Kling0n> heh, he called the chan a room
<b0g> oh this one's gonna wind up on my site, just you watch...

Trust me you don't want to end up on b0g's web site. Luckily for the world it doesn't even exist anymore. Seems they ran afoul of some animal rights people and the FBI shut them down or something. I'm sure a similar site has taken its place now though.

I guess I need to update my bookmarks :) You really shouldn't call IRC channels rooms either.

[nutsandbolts_64]

I see your point... I have a compromise >:D