Kiwi IRC

Typically, IRC clients are installed on the computer and used to connect to IRC servers. Basically, they’re like web browsers accessing websites that run on servers, but rather than web pages, they connect to instant messaging servers where multiple channels can be created. KiwiIRC is the same, but instead of running as a standalone app, it’s coded in HTML and Javascript and designed to run from within a web browser. This means KiwiIRC can run on basically any machine with a modern web browser. It’s also entirely open source and free, so anyone can set up a web server or rent hosting space and install it, but KiwiIRC provides a fully functioning demo on their site. As soon as you load the front page of Kiwiirc.com, you’re greeted with a few popular public IRC networks you can connect to, neither of which are operated by Kiwi itself. While you can connect to either of these networks by clicking on their names, you can connect to virtually any IRC server by clicking the button that reads “Try Me” then adding your own network. The page for adding a new network is fairly simple. There are options to input the server address, the port you want to connect through, the encoding standard for non-Latin scripts, and an area to insert a few commands to run right after connecting to a network. The application allows for connecting a ZNC account for a bouncer, which is basically a script run on a server that stays connected to your chat channels and saves the conversations while you’re offline, so you can catch up on what you missed while gone. This bouncer, however, will not be able to auto receive files, in part because KiwiIRC supports neither sending nor receiving files at all. While I think it’s a missed opportunity by Kiwi to provide a more integrated bouncer service, it’s good that they provide some support for bouncers, although limited. Visually, KiwiIRC is not astonishing but not bad either. Because it’s meant to run in a web browser, it has a lot of space to work with running maximized, unlike most chat programs. It doesn’t make ideal use of the space. Perhaps if they made it so you can view two channels side-by-side or added a panel for quick access to commands the abundance of space would’ve been better utilized.

KiwiIRC is one of the few IRC clients that is still under active development that can be loaded in your web browser. It is easy to integrate into your own website (via iframe widget) and perfect for building a community around a subject. You can even install KiwiIRC to run on your own servers for added customisation options. KiwiIRC's standout features are that #1 people don't have to download software to access IRC and #2 it's not nearly as intimidating to use as most other desktop/mobile clients are. All of the above means that KiwiIRC is playing a big role in keeping IRC alive in a world where "swipe left" and "pictures first, conversation next" is at the order of the day. Thank you Prawnsalad for your hard work!!!!