Connecting to Freenode IRC with a web-based IRC Client
While locally installed IRC client applications provide a lot more comfort and additional functionality, a web-based client should do just fine for casual or first time IRC users - all you need is a web browser and a working Internet connection.
A very popular IRC web application is CGI:IRC, a Perl-based CGI script that needs be running on a web server that is reachable via the Internet. CGI:IRC requires a browser that supports JavaScript, something that all current web browsers should support. Other web-based IRC client applications are based on PHP or may require Java.
[edit] How to connect
Start up your Javascript enabled web browser and perform the following steps:
- Open http://ircatwork.com/cgi-bin/irc/irc.cgi in your browser
- Enter your chosen Nickname
- Enter irc.freenode.net as the Server name
- Enter one or multiple channel names (seperated by comma) you want to connect to
- Press the login button
You will now enter the selected IRC channel(s) and your browser window will change to a screen with three different panes. The large one in the top left section shows all messages that other users may type into the current channel. The bar on top of the chat window provides buttons for every channel that you have joined, so you can switch between them. The side bar on the right lists all users logged into the current channel. The text input field at the bottom allows you to enter text which will then be sent to the channel for all other participants to read.
That's all there is to it! Have fun on IRC and check the CGI:IRC user guide for more details on how to use the webchat.
Note that you are not required to use the webchat from http://ircatwork.com - there are plenty of other public webchats. Just check the search results from Google or Yahoo for other options.