11 ms·

Chats.io, new HTML5 / Node.JS-powered social group chat, launches

68 points by cmatthieu 16y ago

chopsueyar 16y ago
I got disconnected after a couple minutes.
codeslush 16y ago
Chris - this is awesome! Love that it's open source too: https://github.com/chrismatthieu/CHATS.iO/ https://github.com/chrismatthieu/CHATS.iO/
cmatthieu 16y ago
It's also running on http://nodester.com http://nodester.com - the free and open source node.js hosting platform.
- codeslush 16y ago
  Out of curiosity, it looks like it's down right now. Can you provide some info about why? I thought the node stuff was supposed to be able to handle all the simultaneous traffic requests with ease. Just curious!
  - jedsmith 16y ago
    I really hate when something being down automatically translates in peoples' minds to a reflection upon the tools. That's like blaming plow manufacturers for a snow day; while possible, there's far more explanations that are likely before plow failure is a consideration, such as a lack of manpower to drive the plows. I see this at an ISP, too, all day long: oh, my site's down, what's wrong with your platform?
    - true_religion 16y ago
      It's not 'automatic'. The above poster asked about excluding the possibility of the tool being poor as opposed to the infrastructure being bad, or the tool wielder lacking competency.
      - jedsmith 16y ago
        I have to disagree, based upon my reading the question. "You're down. Why? I thought Node could handle it." I don't have any stock invested in Node, personally, but it sounded like a conclusion had already been made by the asker.
        true_religion 16y ago
        Here's an analogy. Man to Plumber: "The pipe burst! What happened? I thought that steel could handle that water pressure". Subtext: Which is it: do I not really know what steel can handle, did you expect lower pressure than you got, or are you just a bad plumber?
    - codeslush 16y ago
      jedsmith - I asked the question not to imply that it was because of node, but because the outage correlated back to the post (i.e. spike in traffic) and I honestly wanted to know the cause. It not node, then what? I think it was a perfectly valid question and sorry if I offended you or anyone else.
      - jedsmith 16y ago
        Fair enough. You didn't offend me, I just see that sort of conclusion quite a bit; I think it was the way you worded it.
    - callmevlad 16y ago
      I got this while visiting Nodester.com repeatedly: The application is not running.. ECONNREFUSED, Connection refused Looks like they have/had some issues at their level.
  - cmatthieu 16y ago
    looks like Nodester ran out of disk space :) It's back online...
    - akavlie 16y ago
      Not right now it's not. :-(
      - akavlie 16y ago
        nm, it's back up right now, with a good chat going.
bradmccarty 16y ago
Thanks Chris. This is handy, for sure. I gave it some love on The Next Web, if you want to monitor the comments.
- cmatthieu 16y ago
  Thanks!
simplify 16y ago
It's not loading for me =/ Anyone else have this problem?
- wheremiah 16y ago
  No works great for me!
- jcfrei 16y ago
  what browser are you using?
- epi0Bauqu 16y ago
  I am. All browsers -- seems to be a network issue (I'm on Verizon FIOS).
  - simplify 16y ago
    Ah, it seems like it can only handle so many users. If you keep refreshing, you'll get lucky eventually (I'm on FIOS too).
- deleted 16y ago
  [deleted]
jacobbijani 16y ago
As opposed to an anti-social solitary chat? :)
bezidejni 16y ago
On Chrome(Win), the windows doesn't autoscroll on joining/leaving announcements. It scrolls normally when a new message arrives.
- kvdr 16y ago
  Can confirm this.
- siddhant 16y ago
  On Chrome(Mac) as well.
- wheremiah 16y ago
  Chrome on win, works well for me ver 10...
- wizard_2 16y ago
  Someone already fixed it and has a pull request on the github repo. https://github.com/chrismatthieu/CHATS.iO https://github.com/chrismatthieu/CHATS.iO
  - cmatthieu 16y ago
    just merged pull request and scroll is now working!
karolisd 16y ago
For some reason I'm reminded of AIM and I miss AIM. I'm going to start a start-up that remakes AIM that you can log in with Facebook.
- amandas 16y ago
  The latest AIM lets you do this already.
- younata 16y ago
  uh. You realize that facebook supports xmpp for chat, so you can use any IM client for facebook chat.
- ffumarola 16y ago
  It reminded me of AIM/AOL Chat... so I closed it down. Different strokes for different folks!
chapel 16y ago
For a web based chat platform I think it falls short, but from what cmatthieu said about making it, Chats.io is really a weekend project. Not really something that 'launches' anyways. As far as what he could do to improve it, here are some ideas: 1. IRC is a solid and robust chat platform that has been around for a long time, you should really look towards what makes it strong and how it is used. Take that and apply what works towards the web app. 2. After building the foundation on solid chat technology, add in things people expect from a web app. I wouldn't mind seeing actual profiles with publicly available logs and what channels they frequent. You could add friends and what not and know when they login and what channels they frequent as well. 3. Since Node.js is so versatile, look at making it compatible with IRC so that IRC clients can connect to it and function as you would expect. This would be an added feature, but could be huge. Not everyone likes using their browser to chat, I know I don't. Good luck with it, glad to see someone making some fun stuff with Node.js and showing it off.
- guywithabike 16y ago
  Also: 4. Prevent people from switching nicks arbitrarily. 5. Cap message site / rate. It's incredibly to just spam the room to hell with massive messages. 6. Don't call it "social". It's chat. It's been done a million times before.
  - chapel 16y ago
    4 & 5 go with my number 1 advice which is to use what works from IRC. I agree with 6 as long as it is just chat, if he provides more community features outside of just the chat areas, it could be considered more social.
metabrew 16y ago
Seems like everyone trying out node.js for the first time wants to make chat-room apps. At least this one doesn't have an immediately obvious script injection vulnerability :) Interestingly, none of the chat apps I've really used are built on node: convore is python, mibbit is java, irccloud is erlang. Too new I guess. If anyone's interested in a tasteful, persistent, web-based IRC client (ie, bouncer-like) - albeit not using node.js - mention HN in the invite box on https://irccloud.com/ https://irccloud.com/
- kiranryali 16y ago
  Looks really cool. Love the fluidity with the animations
- d2zo 16y ago
  Looking over IRCCloud's subscription plans, why would I want to pay for features that have been offered free forever? Is the idea that since I can't run an IRC client on my iPhone that I'd pay for this? I don't get it.
  - metabrew 16y ago
    We're essentially a nicely designed web-based irc interface with integrated hosted bouncer. You don't usually get that for free afaik, you'd have to run a bouncer yourself on a vps or something, or attach to screen and use irssi. Plenty of our users are former screen+irssi users, and many of them are perfectly capable of running a vps+bouncer+whatever themselves, but choose to use us because it's less hassle / more convenient.
- AdamGibbins 16y ago
  I like the look of it but imho the Gold plan is too expensive - €12 of VPS could get persistant IRC and a lot more.
  - utkarshkukreti 16y ago
    Where are the prices mentioned? I couldn't find it anywhere on irccloud.com
u48998 16y ago
The site never comes up for me.
markbao 16y ago
Error 324 (net::ERR_EMPTY_RESPONSE): The server closed the connection without sending any data. Edit: looks like it's back up!
- andrewcamel 16y ago
  Chats.io, new HTML5 / Node.JS-powered social group chat, launches... and crashes.
shawndrost 16y ago
Please don't shove an alert in my face. It's rude.
shawndrost 16y ago
Please don't shove an alert in my face. It's rude.
j2d2j2d2 16y ago
Would love to see this ported to coffeescript.
cmatthieu 16y ago
We have already received 4 pull requests and merged code with new features and a new UI today! The power of the crowd is amazing!
uberalex 16y ago
I like this very much, and I would love to see markdown or some other rich markup for chatting.

68 points by cmatthieu 16y ago

I got disconnected after a couple minutes.

Chris - this is awesome! Love that it's open source too: https://github.com/chrismatthieu/CHATS.iO/ https://github.com/chrismatthieu/CHATS.iO/

cmatthieu 16y ago

It's also running on http://nodester.com http://nodester.com - the free and open source node.js hosting platform.

codeslush 16y ago
Out of curiosity, it looks like it's down right now. Can you provide some info about why? I thought the node stuff was supposed to be able to handle all the simultaneous traffic requests with ease. Just curious!
- jedsmith 16y ago
  I really hate when something being down automatically translates in peoples' minds to a reflection upon the tools. That's like blaming plow manufacturers for a snow day; while possible, there's far more explanations that are likely before plow failure is a consideration, such as a lack of manpower to drive the plows. I see this at an ISP, too, all day long: oh, my site's down, what's wrong with your platform?
  - true_religion 16y ago
    It's not 'automatic'. The above poster asked about excluding the possibility of the tool being poor as opposed to the infrastructure being bad, or the tool wielder lacking competency.
    - jedsmith 16y ago
      I have to disagree, based upon my reading the question. "You're down. Why? I thought Node could handle it." I don't have any stock invested in Node, personally, but it sounded like a conclusion had already been made by the asker.
      - true_religion 16y ago
        Here's an analogy. Man to Plumber: "The pipe burst! What happened? I thought that steel could handle that water pressure". Subtext: Which is it: do I not really know what steel can handle, did you expect lower pressure than you got, or are you just a bad plumber?
  - codeslush 16y ago
    jedsmith - I asked the question not to imply that it was because of node, but because the outage correlated back to the post (i.e. spike in traffic) and I honestly wanted to know the cause. It not node, then what? I think it was a perfectly valid question and sorry if I offended you or anyone else.
    - jedsmith 16y ago
      Fair enough. You didn't offend me, I just see that sort of conclusion quite a bit; I think it was the way you worded it.
  - callmevlad 16y ago
    I got this while visiting Nodester.com repeatedly: The application is not running.. ECONNREFUSED, Connection refused Looks like they have/had some issues at their level.
- cmatthieu 16y ago
  looks like Nodester ran out of disk space :) It's back online...
  - akavlie 16y ago
    Not right now it's not. :-(
    - akavlie 16y ago
      nm, it's back up right now, with a good chat going.

bradmccarty 16y ago

Thanks Chris. This is handy, for sure. I gave it some love on The Next Web, if you want to monitor the comments.

cmatthieu 16y ago
Thanks!

simplify 16y ago

It's not loading for me =/ Anyone else have this problem?

wheremiah 16y ago
No works great for me!
jcfrei 16y ago
what browser are you using?
epi0Bauqu 16y ago
I am. All browsers -- seems to be a network issue (I'm on Verizon FIOS).
- simplify 16y ago
  Ah, it seems like it can only handle so many users. If you keep refreshing, you'll get lucky eventually (I'm on FIOS too).
deleted 16y ago
[deleted]

jacobbijani 16y ago

As opposed to an anti-social solitary chat? :)

bezidejni 16y ago

On Chrome(Win), the windows doesn't autoscroll on joining/leaving announcements. It scrolls normally when a new message arrives.

kvdr 16y ago
Can confirm this.
siddhant 16y ago
On Chrome(Mac) as well.
wheremiah 16y ago
Chrome on win, works well for me ver 10...
wizard_2 16y ago
Someone already fixed it and has a pull request on the github repo. https://github.com/chrismatthieu/CHATS.iO https://github.com/chrismatthieu/CHATS.iO
- cmatthieu 16y ago
  just merged pull request and scroll is now working!

karolisd 16y ago

For some reason I'm reminded of AIM and I miss AIM. I'm going to start a start-up that remakes AIM that you can log in with Facebook.

amandas 16y ago
The latest AIM lets you do this already.
younata 16y ago
uh. You realize that facebook supports xmpp for chat, so you can use any IM client for facebook chat.
ffumarola 16y ago
It reminded me of AIM/AOL Chat... so I closed it down. Different strokes for different folks!

chapel 16y ago

For a web based chat platform I think it falls short, but from what cmatthieu said about making it, Chats.io is really a weekend project. Not really something that 'launches' anyways. As far as what he could do to improve it, here are some ideas: 1. IRC is a solid and robust chat platform that has been around for a long time, you should really look towards what makes it strong and how it is used. Take that and apply what works towards the web app. 2. After building the foundation on solid chat technology, add in things people expect from a web app. I wouldn't mind seeing actual profiles with publicly available logs and what channels they frequent. You could add friends and what not and know when they login and what channels they frequent as well. 3. Since Node.js is so versatile, look at making it compatible with IRC so that IRC clients can connect to it and function as you would expect. This would be an added feature, but could be huge. Not everyone likes using their browser to chat, I know I don't. Good luck with it, glad to see someone making some fun stuff with Node.js and showing it off.

guywithabike 16y ago
Also: 4. Prevent people from switching nicks arbitrarily. 5. Cap message site / rate. It's incredibly to just spam the room to hell with massive messages. 6. Don't call it "social". It's chat. It's been done a million times before.
- chapel 16y ago
  4 & 5 go with my number 1 advice which is to use what works from IRC. I agree with 6 as long as it is just chat, if he provides more community features outside of just the chat areas, it could be considered more social.

metabrew 16y ago

Seems like everyone trying out node.js for the first time wants to make chat-room apps. At least this one doesn't have an immediately obvious script injection vulnerability :) Interestingly, none of the chat apps I've really used are built on node: convore is python, mibbit is java, irccloud is erlang. Too new I guess. If anyone's interested in a tasteful, persistent, web-based IRC client (ie, bouncer-like) - albeit not using node.js - mention HN in the invite box on https://irccloud.com/ https://irccloud.com/

kiranryali 16y ago
Looks really cool. Love the fluidity with the animations
d2zo 16y ago
Looking over IRCCloud's subscription plans, why would I want to pay for features that have been offered free forever? Is the idea that since I can't run an IRC client on my iPhone that I'd pay for this? I don't get it.
- metabrew 16y ago
  We're essentially a nicely designed web-based irc interface with integrated hosted bouncer. You don't usually get that for free afaik, you'd have to run a bouncer yourself on a vps or something, or attach to screen and use irssi. Plenty of our users are former screen+irssi users, and many of them are perfectly capable of running a vps+bouncer+whatever themselves, but choose to use us because it's less hassle / more convenient.
AdamGibbins 16y ago
I like the look of it but imho the Gold plan is too expensive - €12 of VPS could get persistant IRC and a lot more.
- utkarshkukreti 16y ago
  Where are the prices mentioned? I couldn't find it anywhere on irccloud.com

u48998 16y ago

The site never comes up for me.

markbao 16y ago

Error 324 (net::ERR_EMPTY_RESPONSE): The server closed the connection without sending any data. Edit: looks like it's back up!

andrewcamel 16y ago
Chats.io, new HTML5 / Node.JS-powered social group chat, launches... and crashes.

shawndrost 16y ago

Please don't shove an alert in my face. It's rude.

shawndrost 16y ago

Please don't shove an alert in my face. It's rude.

j2d2j2d2 16y ago

Would love to see this ported to coffeescript.

cmatthieu 16y ago

We have already received 4 pull requests and merged code with new features and a new UI today! The power of the crowd is amazing!

uberalex 16y ago

I like this very much, and I would love to see markdown or some other rich markup for chatting.