Hydra IRC is another client that I heard about only recently and it works pretty well. It does come with all the features that one would expect from an IRC client like DCC file transfers, multiple server connections, multiple user identities, channel monitoring and a wealth of other features.

Some would say that the initial layout of the IRC client is a bit messy with lots of information panels everywhere. At start you have the following windows: Server List, Channel List, Channel monitoring with three additional tabs, event log with three additional tabs and the main channel window. Another window is added to the mix when the user connects to a server. This one displays the connected users that are currently in the channel.

The good news is that every window can be removed or minimized to display only the needed ones. Beginners will probably be a bit lost at the beginning because of the sheer size of options and servers to chose from.

IRC is still a nice way to find information pretty fast. Almost every network has channels for programming languages or operating systems where users can receive help when they need it. I’m not sure about the file sharing scene on IRC though if it is still that active and I did not have time to check this out.

Hydra IRC is definitely a nice client for IRC, best of all it is completely free.

The benefit of a web client is obviously that all the installation and configuration of the IRC client is not necessary. It should also protect the user from all those worms that are spreading on the various IRC networks. Mibbit offers a search over all networks which no client provided back then when I was using IRC. A list displays all the channels sorted from most populated to least that contain the keywords entered in the search.

A click on the result tries to load the IRC channel in a new tab. Mibbit is offering tabbed channels which means that it is possible to connect to more than one channel at a time which is definitely a must on IRC. The layout looks similar to software clients, the page contains a message pane, a user pane and one pane to write messages.

Interaction with other users is rather limit. It is possible to send them a private message, do a whoise or ignore them. I was not able to find out any details about data transfers and think that those are not supported.

Mibbit is a good alternative to IRC clients if you are on IRC to chat, and only to chat. If you are an admin or voiced user or use IRC for file sharing, trading or other stuff then you are still better of using a software client. This is however a great way to connect to IRC with devices that do not have their own IRC software, thinking about video game systems like the Wii, handhelds and mobile phones.