

Any feedback appreciated for Ajax IRC/Telnet/games project - axod
http://www.mibbit.com

======
axod
This is something I've been working on for a little while now.

Screenshots: IRC plugin: <http://www.mibbit.com/mibbit.png> Telnet plugin:
<http://www.mibbit.com/telnet.png> Jigsaw game:
<http://www.mibbit.com/jigsaw.png>

It's just running on my home ADSL at the moment, so if you can't get into some
of the IRC servers that may be why (I don't have an i-line yet).

The site should work ok on FF/IE, and mostly ok on Opera bar a few cosmetic
issues. Probably doesn't work too well on anything else at the moment.

I have lots of big ideas for it, but would be interested to hear any early
feedback for it so far.

~~~
abstractbill
Nice work!

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robmnl
Ok, so it's a chat site, with collaborative apps, and games. Actually quite
fun, I just played a puzzle with you :)

For sure nice work.

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philc
I've wanted a good implementation of web-irc for a long time. That alone is
cool enough for me.

However, the UI is really bad; I'm not sure where to begin. Once I log into an
irc server, how do I play games? I remember seeing a selection for it when I
first came to mibbit, but now it is gone.

When I first start chatting my messages aren't visible (because they're
scrolled offscreen).

And it's really, painfully ugly. You might want to recruit a UI designer, or
steal some styles from adium or xchat.

~~~
axod
Thanks for the feedback, I'm a programmer, not a UI designer ;) I do plan on
getting some decent UI design in the future.

To play games/connect to other IRC servers/etc etc just click on the 'welcome
tab' again.

Not sure about the scrolling messages, the chat output will scroll as long as
the scrollbar is at the bottom. If you resize the window that can sometimes
affect the scrollbar position so it could have been that.

I should have explained, this isn't something I'd show end users, it's just an
early stage hard to use prototype.

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robmnl
What is it?

I might be slow but I have no idea what the site does :)

Definitely looks like you put a lot of work into it, so let me know what it
is.

~~~
axod
It's a kinda ajaxy framework. Currently the plugins are

\- IRC client \- Telnet client \- Multi player jigsaw game

------
darius
You really need to let the visitors know what you are trying to accomplish
with the website. After trying all kind of stuff I had to come back here to
get a feeling of what you were trying to do.

You need to make it dead clear what the website does if you want to retain any
users.

~~~
axod
Sure. I should have made it clearer. This isn't something I'd show users, just
some early toys I made.

------
bayareaguy
I found this game more fun: <http://weboggle.shackworks.com/>

~~~
axod
Yeah nice game. Might code up a plugin of that :) thanks.

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inklesspen
How are you different from <http://volity.net/>

~~~
abstractbill
"Download a copy of Gamut, our _client software_ , to enter the world of
Volity gaming."

~~~
inklesspen
They're also developing a web-based version:
<http://www.volity.org/wiki/index.cgi?Web_Client>

Anyway, you should probably have something more to distinguish yourself
besides just being online-only. The Volity system is actually pretty
interesting; it works over Jabber.

~~~
Locke
There are a ton of sites in the multi-player gaming niche. I think there's
still lots of room for competition, and many ways to compete with existing
sites. Whether on game selection / implementation or technology improvements.

