Let's Chat – open source, self-hosted chat for small teams (opens in new tab)

(sdelements.github.io)

19 pointssibartlett11y ago14 comments

14 comments

9 comments · 3 top-level

gcp11y ago· 3 in thread

Explain me how this is better than IRC.

Lots of reasons. For example, you can't just paste a picture from your Clipboard into a IRC channel and expect it to work. Granted there are image hosting services out there, but if you want a chat server on your private network and you are a small company, you want it all in one. Same goes with highlighting mentions, Desktop notifications, saved transcriptions (IRC is transient by nature), LDAP/Kerberose integration, XMPP support (again, there are XMPP bridges for IRC, but not integrated in any free private IRC server I know of). UI is another aspect too.

hhaidar11y ago

IRC is a bit less accessible for non-technical people. We had a lot of trouble getting our team to adopt it. It's not for everyone.

That's why products like Slack, HipChat, Campfire, etc exist.

rakoo11y ago

I don't want to dismiss your efforts, but in the spirit of the original question I'd like to know: Is it only a UI problem, or is there a problem with IRC (the protocol) itself ?

2 more replies

dddddannyyyyy11y ago· 2 in thread

lacks offline mobile support :-(

sibartlettOP11y ago

This is something can consider for a future release. Do you mean offline message storage, so you can look at discussions offline?

dddddannyyyyy11y ago

I want to see some (or a lot of?) chat history offline, and then send msgs while offline. I don't want it to scan the network, delay loads, or blow up in any way just because the network is down. Think about the Whatsapp or Telegram experience, as opposed to Slack or Facebook Messenger. If you are in and out of the subway, or in elevators, or just where there are spotty networks, the mobile experience blows for anything but the super popular and consumery chat services.

Unlike the people who can't figure out why this is better than IRC, I find a ton of value in your project. After leaving Campfire, moving to Kato, and then settling with Slack, I am really unhappy with the Slack mobile experience.

1 more reply

stephenr11y ago· 1 in thread

Why does every attempt to improve user experience these days, make the assumption that they need to rebuild the entire stack from scratch?

A really high quality web (maybe even HTML5 client-side only even?) XMPP client would be a welcome thing. This, not so much.

notsrg11y ago

This wasn't exactly "an attempt to improve user experience". It's a hack day project that we use internally to help the different BU's communicate. The bonus is we get to have fun with it because we wrote it.

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