phpFreeChat 2.0, coming soon

This version is a complete rewrite of the phpFreeChat code. The primary goals of this versions are :

• Be very responsive (real time) by using the COMET technique.
• First container will connect to a IRC server (server side)
• Write the client in javascript using the prototype and the YUI libraries, the aim is to have a lightweight chat client side.

In order to release 2.0 soon, this release will focus on the IRC protocol implementation.

The proposed road map for the future is (unordered list) :

• Have a non-“IRC protocol” dependent code (server side and client side)
• Write other containers (we look to contributors), ideas are :
  • A home made container based on simple file system or on a SQLite database. Very useful for webmasters who do not have a dedicated server with “php socket” capabilities.
  • Write a Jabber container (XMPP protocol) → XMPPHP or Lightr (and maybe jsjac) could be a good candidate.
  • MSN, AIM, ICQ, … maybe we could just develop a gateway to the libpurple ?
• Make possible theming (skinning).
• Provide the “proxies mechanism” (maybe we should rename it to “plugin mechanism”)
• Provide I18n capabilities
• Support the FOAF description language to display the user profiles in the UI
• Improve the COMET module :
  • Use classic AJAX on Firefox (and maybe KHTML) → this will avoid the “waiting cursor” effect
  • Do not use simple files to achieve inter-process communication → socket, or sqlite database, or … could be better