| Mibbit | |
|---|---|
 | |
 | |
| Developer | Jimmy Moore |
| Initial release | November 2007 (2007-11) |
| Written in | |
| Platform | Web application |
| Type | |
| License | |
| Website | Official website |
Mibbit was aweb-basedclient for web browsers[2] that supportsInternet Relay Chat (IRC),[3]Yahoo! Messenger,[4] andTwitter.[5][6] It is developed by Jimmy Moore[7] and is designed around theAjax model[8] with auser interface written inJavaScript.[2] It was the IRC application setup by default onFirefox. Following an announcement on the website homepage, Mibbit shut down on August 30th, 2024.[9]
Mibbit'suser interface operates entirely within aweb browser[10] and does not require installation of any software on the user's computer. Most modern web browsers that support recent versions of JavaScript are supported, includingMozilla Firefox,Internet Explorer,Opera,Google Chrome, andSafari.[2] Mobile devices such as the AppleiPhone[11]iPod Touch,[12] andNokia N800, and other platforms such as the NintendoWii are also supported.[2]
Unlike typical web-basedIRC clients, Mibbit makes use of aclient–server design model.[7] The user interface is written inHTML andJavaScript usingAjax programming techniques. The client'sbackend is written completely inJava[7] and operates independently of theweb server in a standalone fashion on the Mibbit server.[2] This design differs from web browsercomponent clients such asChatZilla orJava applet based IRC clients such asPJIRC that operate entirely from within the web browser. It also differs from server-basedweb proxy IRC clients such asCGI:IRC where allprocessing takes place on a remoteserver.
Because the client–server design allows for a centralized Mibbit client server,[7] Mibbit is able to offer extended functionality which is not present in the standard IRC protocol. Some of these extensions include a channel chat buffer that can be shown to Mibbit clients when they join a channel where another Mibbit user is already present,[7][13] a notification for other Mibbit users that you are typing a message to them,[14] and distinctive icons that allow identification of the device used with Mibbit such as an iPhone, iPod Touch, Wii, etc.[14]
Mibbit supports the webirc (cgiirc) protocol[15] which allows the client to send the user'sIP address andhostname to the IRC server.[10] Servers that support webirc allow Mibbit users to appear as regular IRC clients instead of appearing to connect from the mibbit.com domain. If webirc is not used or is unavailable, Mibbit puts the user's hostname in the client's realname field and encodes the user's IP address inhexadecimal and sends it as theident reply.[2]
The Mibbit client has the ability to connect to multiple IRC servers, including servers that useSSL/TLS,[10] can join multiple channels,[8] and can be configured auto-join often used channels.[10] Mibbit uses theUTF-8 character set by default[14] but can also be configured to use othercharacter sets.[2] It supports nickname tabauto-completion, aninput history for eachtab accessible with the up/down arrow keys,aliases, user menu commands,[10] and saving of user preferences. Mibbit can parsesmileys, links, channels, nicks, andmIRC color codes,[14] and can automatically createthumbnails[10] for image links and URLs. In addition, Mibbit offers an integratedpastebin, an upload service, and can minify URLs.[14] Mibbit also offers typing notification for other Mibbit users, a recent chat buffer for IRC channels when other Mibbit users are already on the channel, and extended whois information with user profiles.[10]
Mibbit supports theGoogle API which allows the client to support a number ofGoogle Services.[16] Mibbit can translate text and conversations on the fly usingGoogle Translate,[16][17] Mibbit can also display geographic locations usingGoogle Maps and supports viewing ofYouTube videos.[16]
In addition to the standard client, Mibbit also supports a widget client that can be embedded into a web page.[18] The widget client supports most of the features of the regular client but does not support multiple server connections.[14]
Mibbit has been praised[19] byCNET[8] andLifehacker[20] for its ease of use.Drupal administrators used it to add IRC widgets to sites, noting the benefits of itsmodular design.[21]Mashable suggested Mibbit as an appropriate resource for those new to IRC.[22]
Firefox 3.5 and beyond builds already supported Mibbit as the default IRC protocol handler[23] and support forencrypted ircs://SSL/TLS connections is also included. Support has discontinued in 2024 as a result of Mibbit's shutdown.[24]
Because Mibbit is effectively an IRCproxy it has the potential to be abused or used to evade bans andblocks. This has resulted in the client being banned from accessing some IRCnetworks andchannels. Mibbit added support forDNSBL checking via the DroneBL service as a means to help block access from abusive users andbotnets.[25] Mibbit was listed as anopen proxy in the DroneBL DNSblacklist in December 2008, and due to a database glitch mistakenly again listed in March 2009. This prevented Mibbit users from connecting to IRC networks that make use of the DroneBL service.[26] Mibbit was added to DroneBL'swhitelist to help prevent future service disruptions.[26] On June 19, 2009 it was banned permanently fromfreenode, and a new officially supportedopen-source AJAX client was introduced.[27][28]