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Hack 4 IRC with ChatZilla

Jump around platforms with the ChatZilla IRC
client for Mozilla-based web browsers.

ChatZilla is a cross-platform IRC
client written for Mozilla-based browsers. If you're
like me and work under various operating systems,
you'll have a consistent IRC interface across the
board.

If you are using Netscape or a Mozilla build, ChatZilla is quick and
easy to start using. If you are using Internet Explorer, Safari, or
another non-Mozilla browser, you will need to download the latest
version of either Netscape from http://home.netscape.org/downloads or Mozilla
from http://mozilla.org.

1.5.1 Installing ChatZilla

ChatZilla
can be installed directly through the web browser at http://www.hacksrus.com/~ginda/chatzilla.
This page contains news and installers. Toward the bottom of the
page, you will find the Download section. Several revisions will be
listed in the table. If the version has a yellow star next to it,
this means the release is probably stable but may contain some bugs.
Releases that are expected to be stable will be marked with a green
tick. Every version will contain a list of any reported bugs, so you
can decide which one you want to install.

The last column of the table has install links, each pointing to an
XPI file. These types of files are installers for Mozilla chrome
packages. When you click an install link, you will be prompted to
accept the install. When you click OK, the software will
automatically download and install itself (see Figure 1-10).

Figure 1-10. Installing ChatZilla

Once the installation is complete, you should close your browser.
Some versions of Windows may also require you to restart the
operating system. Once all the restarts are complete, ChatZilla is
ready to use.

1.5.2 Using ChatZilla

ChatZilla
can be launched in three ways. The IRC Chat option will appear in the
Window menu in your browser. Selecting this will launch the client.
You can also use the irc command in the URL bar.
Typing just irc: will launch ChatZilla. You
can also type a full URL, like
irc://irc.mozilla.org, and that will take the
additional step of connecting to the specified server. These URL
methods are currently the only way to launch ChatZilla if you are
using the Mozilla Firebird web browser. Finally, if you launch
Netscape or Mozilla from the command line, you can use the
-chat option to start up ChatZilla instead of the
normal browser window.

Once ChatZilla has launched (Figure 1-11), you can
use all of the basic IRC commands. Nickname and command
completion are both supported. After typing a few characters of the
nickname or command, pressing the Tab key will fill in the rest. If
there is more than one option for the characters you typed, ChatZilla
will complete up until there is a choice to be made.

Figure 1-11. ChatZilla in use

For example, typing /q followed by the Tab key
will fill in the command up to /qu. It stops
there because there are several options for what comes next. A quick
double-Tab will display all of the options that can complete the
text. In this case, ChatZilla shows the following line:

4 matches for "/qu": [/query, /quit, /quit-mozilla, /quote]

Mousing over a message will show the
timestamp in the status bar at the bottom of the window. It also
gives the nickname and IP address/hostname of the sender.
Each sender's
nickname appears as a link next to
the message. Clicking that link will open a private chat
session with the person. Private messages and chats can also be
started with commands. Typing /msg
nickname message will send a
private message to the nickname you
provide. If someone sends a private message to you using the
/msg command, it will automatically open a
new tab to show your conversation. Using the /query
nickname
command will open this private tab as well, but without
sending a message. The tab will be labeled with your chat
partner's nickname. Messages typed in these new
tabbed windows are, obviously, private.

When sending messages, the default
input field lets you type one line of text. For pasting
multiline text, such as snippets of
programming code where lines really matter, it can be tedious to cut
and paste each individual line. In ChatZilla, there is an up arrow
next to the input field (see Figure 1-12). Clicking
that arrow expands the text box into a text field.

Figure 1-12. Default input field

Multiple lines can be typed or pasted into the larger box (see Figure 1-13) and will appear in much the same way in the
actual chat. Clicking the new, bent arrow next to the text area will
send the message. To return to single-line input, click the down
arrow.

Figure 1-13. Sending text with multiple lines

If you are using multiline text entry, as shown in Figure 1-13, you will see this appear identically in your
client, as shown in Figure 1-14.

Figure 1-14. The result of sending a multiline message

ChatZilla has great support for
changing the appearance of the chat windows with motifs. A few
default options come installed. Several more motifs are available at
http://www.hacksrus.com. However,
motifs are just CSS files. That means that you can
easily use a CSS from another web site or create your own motif
especially for chat. To set a motif, choose a default one from the
ViewColor Scheme menu or set your own. To use your own CSS
file, either drag a link to the .css file into
the message window, or use the /motif command.

/motif  http://example.com/myMotif.css 

Any CSS file accessible over the Web can be used in this way.

1.5.3 See Also

FAQs, links, source code, bug reports, and a wealth of other
information are available at the Mozilla project's
homepage for ChatZilla (http://www.mozilla.org/projects/rt-messaging/chatzilla).

The ChatZilla page on hacksrus (http://www.hacksrus.com/~ginda/chatzilla) has
installs, motifs, and more technical information.

The ChatZilla newsgroup is
netscape.public.mozilla.rt-messaging and can be
found on the public news server news.mozilla.org.
There is, of course, an IRC channel for ChatZilla:
#chatzilla.

Jennifer Golbeck