Presence and IntComm WG

[Rodney McDuff <>]

Hi All
   Pursuant to my actions items I'm looking at Web based jabber clients.
I'll expand the scope a bit to include jabber clients provisioned from
the web (so options like java web start are included).

I did a very quick (and very non-exhaustive) google search which
provided these candidates.

jwchat:         <http://jwchat.sourceforge.net>
jeti:           <http://jeti.sourceforge.net/index.php>
webjabber:      <http://webjabber.net>
Jabber Messenger: <http://www.jabber.com/CE/JabberMessengerfortheWeb>
Centova Messenger: <http://www.centova.com/pages/messenger>
mabber:         <http://mabber.com/home.php>


jwchat is an AJAX based web client. It required that the jabber server
supports HTTP Polling (XEP-0025) or HTTP Binding (XEP-0124). Its
interface IMHO is quite good but those that have problems with multiple
windows might not agree. Its easy to install (and I have used this on my
own ejabberd server). There is a how-to to install it on openfire
<http://chromus.kajigger.com/blog/2007/03/22/making-jwchat-work-with-openfire/>.
It has all the features a typical user would want:
    * Create accounts
    * Roster management: Add, delete contacts, edit contact's groups etc.
    * Jabber presence types with support for away messages
    * Custom presence for each roster item
    * Instant Messages and 1:1 Chats
    * Support for registering and searching JUD (Jabber User Directory)
    * Full support for MUC (Multi-User Chats) as described in JEP-0045
    * Support for transport/gateways to other IM services like ICQ, AIM,
MSN, etc.
    * Server side storage of preferences and bookmarks (chat rooms)
    * Message-History (optional - needs support from the server side)
    * Multiple language support (through apache's mod_negotiation)
    * Online-Help
    * System sounds
    * Smileys in messages and chats (themes customizable)
    * Customizable poll interval (if polling backend present)

and works on all common browsers and OSs except safari. There is a live
demo site at http://jwchat.sourceforge.net/demo.shtml

jeti is either a java applet or java web start application. It supports
the normal jabber features:
    * Plugin Based, activate only the features you need.
    * Basic chat and messages.
    * SSL security and Socks proxy.
    * Filetransfers.
    * Groupchat.
    * Message logging.
    * Formatted messages.
    * Emoticons.
    * Meta contacts, contacts with the same name will be bundled.
    * Can register and update transports (MSN AIM Yahoo etc).
    * Avatars.
    * Groupchat alert, get alerted when something interesting is said.
    * Tabbed or windowed mode.

and has a list of XEP that it supports
<http://jeti.sourceforge.net/features.php>. It also seems to have a
Jingle plugin in the works. It has a live demo at
<http://jeti.sourceforge.net/applet.php> for the applet and
<http://jeti.jabberstudio.org/webstart/jeti.jnlp> for the java web start.


webjabber is a JSP web application. It looks like its got all the
typical jabber client features (see <http://webjabber.net/dev.html>).
Its interface IMHO is a bit chunky. It has a live demo at
<http://www.gotoservers.com/chat/>.

The mabber web client seems to have evolved from jwchat. However it
seems that mabber is provided as a service so you can't use your own
jabber server. Anyway if you want to try it out you will have to
register for a mabber account.



Jabber Messenger for the Web and Centova Messenger are commercial clients.

Jabber Messenger for the Web is jabber.com's web client. Its seems
pretty feature rich but the is not live demo site. My guess however is
that it will only work with the jabber.com server Jabber XCP (which by
the way seems a pretty good server; pity you have to pay for it). I've
registered for a trial so stay tuned.

Centova Messenger seems to be "a completely web-based interface,
requiring only Javascript and HTML (no ActiveX, Java applets, or other
downloads required; optional Flash support for sound)". My guess is that
is a AJAX application and also need a jabber server (Jabberd v1.4.x ??)
and a PHP enable apache to provision the app. There is a live demo on
the site but you have to register for an account.


Dr. Rodney G. McDuff                 |Ex ignorantia ad sapientiam
Manager, Strategic Technologies Group|    Ex luce ad tenebras
Information Technology Services      |
The University of Queensland         |
EMAIL: 

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TELEPHONE: +61 7 3365 8220           |