php, and light javascript, but have it work without js no dependencies, no sql have it speak to an http←→irc bridge because not every web browser supports web sockets we don't need to use ajax have the server run irchttpd this will accept http requests and translate them to irc like if you want to send a PRVIMSG use the web client to send a POST request that's like posting a chat message i mean if you don't want ajax you could just have the browser refresh every 5 seconds because most ISPs will block port 6667 irc is a “hacker's protocol” it's blocked off on most intranets so you need the web client to speak http write the irc←→httpd bridge in C and then have the web client just do ajax and make simple requests to the bridge you could even use curl to post on IRC like if you want to fetch the chats curl https://ircnow.org/?room=#team GET /network/chan something like that would be enough to fetch the chats and if you want to send a message just send a simple post request it'll be like a swiss army knife so people will use it for their own applications i think it's possible to build the irc client without ajax if you really wanted just have the browser refresh the page every 5 seconds btw i'm 100% serious about the idea i mean if you did it without ajax this is an irc client that would work on lynx that's pretty amazing i'll call it the ircnow client, if you don't mind just use PHP, make installing it as easy as uploading a single file i'm definitely avoiding websockets you can just have the web page poll every 5 seconds refresh every 5 seconds then it would work even with js disabled you could make it have a mobile/responsive theme naah doesn't even load in my browser js free irc chat for the web goals are: 1) works without JS, but can* use JS 2) only uses PHP, no other requirements, no other dependencies 3) can work for 99% of browsers out there 4) has a nice clean UI 5) can run on BSDs what i want to do for the web client is I want it to automatially connect to a bouncer by default zero config necessary i can provideyou the bouncers for the web client it'll be more like a cgi script rather than an app you can use tables for layout can't use grids or flexbox you can use divs and tables for layout you can also use display:table in css https://matthewjamestaylor.com/blog/perfect-3-column.htm that's how to do it using old style css first get something basic running for laptops later on we'll do some weird responsive hacks to make it look good on phones for phones probably you just hide the left and right panes and just leave the center pane how about we first work on the 1st version, the one that works on old trashy browsers