~ StormChat ~
Home | Compatibility | Roadmap | LiveJournal Community | SF Project Page

This is the SourceForge site for StormChat, a web-based chat system designed to work with a multitude of browsers. Grown out of a writing community, it was necessary to avoid:

• Java
• Separate client downloads (IRC clients, etc)
• Poor performance
• High cost
• Separate user accounts from the existing forums

As a result, StormChat was slowly born. It is in active use by the members of the Evolution Writers community. It uses a PHP front end to communicate either directly with the back-end database for client-pull/text-based browsers, or via a C-based server for server-push functionality.

I have integrated this in the past with Invision Power Board 1.3 and Simple Machines Framework. Invision is currently working with 2.x, which is a paid-only version, unlike 1.3. At this time, StormChat will continue to support IPB 1.3 and SMF, though phpBB is the best supported option.

Alternatives to StormChat:

• WebConference TurboChat -- appears to be no longer available, was licensed on a per year cost.
• X7 Chat -- not available when StormChat was begun, but purely PHP based.
• phpChat -- available when StormChat was begun, but purely PHP based and not performance effective enough. (Not commercially usable without paid license.)