JaMaHa's Guide to IRC: Obtaining an IRC client

So you want to join the chat using a real IRC client? Then you've come to the right place. Just follow these instructions and you'll be chatting with all the cool people on #nsm in no time!

First, you need to download an IRC client. If you have Firefox, ChatZilla will do just fine. If you don't have Firefox, then for god's sake, download it. There's no reason for not using Firefox, unless you're using a superior browser like Opera.
Yes, I'm an Opera user, how did you know?
Anyways, now that you have Firefox go and download ChatZilla.

The first picture! Can you find a matching link on the actual site?

All right, you should now have ChatZilla installed. You might have to restart FireFox. Or not, I don't really remember. Now open your brand new IRC client. You can find it from the 'Tools' menu of Firefox, under the name 'ChatZilla'.

Yes, it's a finnish version of Firefox. Isn't that cool?

There it is, in all its glory: an unconfigured IRC client. Yes, unconfigured. You can type all you want, yet no one is able to read it. Let's start configuring it. Go to 'Preferences' in the 'ChatZilla' menu.

Tooooooooooo PREFERENCES!

My name settings. Notice the clever "JaMaHaway" :D

First, you need to set a few names. The most important one is the Nickname. That's the name you appear as whatever you do on IRC. Just use your usual internet nickname. Then there's username. That can be set to anything you want as well, making it the same as your nickname is just fine. The Description field is, well, a description of yourself. Mine is set to my real name but you could set it to your nickname, something random or 'JaMaHa is my god' as well. Last, but not least we have the away nickname. Should you bother setting your status as away, this will automatically change your nickname to your away nickname. nickname-away, is a common away nickname, but you can be creative with it as well.

That is enough configuring for now, now we need to join an IRC network. Different networks have different channels and different people, but since this is a guide to joining NSM's IRC channel, we'll join the network #nsm is on. (In case you're wondering, the # is a prefix used on channel names.)
So, you've got that box in the bottom of the screen just waiting for you to type something to it. Type:

We're about to join an IRC network! Isn't that awesome?

You have no joined irc.drshnaps.com, the IRC network of Drshnaps Productions. But hold on, you can't chat yet! You still need to join a channel. Type:

Chatting is just one command away!

Congratulations, you're now chatting on #nsm! If it's between noon and midnight (GMT+3), you'll most likely see me there. Just say "Hello JaMaHa, I followed your guide and now I'm chatting on IRC. :D".
I won't bite. At least not hard.

Just to make coming back easier, you might want to select "Join this channel at startup". It'll automatically throw you to #nsm once you open ChatZilla.

See the option up there? Check it, love it.

You have now done everything necessary to chat on IRC. Except for one optional step. Right now your nickname isn't registered, meaning the moment you exit IRC your name will be available to anyone. So why not register it to keep people from using it. Registration takes just one simple command:

Remember the slash, you don't want to type your password to the channel.

Don't use a password you're normally using. It's not an uncommon mistake to accidentally to type your password to the channel instead of sending it to NickService. Just come up with something you'll only use for this.

Now that you have registered your nick you'll have to identify yourself every time you join the network. To make things easier, the client has a feature that automatically identifies you. It's found in the 'Preferences' under the irc.drshnaps.com submenu.

Yay for more configuring!

Press the add button and type in the command shown in the above picture. Notice that although it's a command, you're not supposed to use a slash in front of it when adding it to Auto-Perform list. Oh, and make sure you replace 'password' with your nick's password. :D

You can also set up stalk words on that same page. ChatZilla automatically makes a noise when someone says your nick. But what if people call you something else as well? (For example "jama" in my case.) Add the words you want to be notified of to the stalk words list and you're good to go.

Now you've obtained an IRC client and are ready to join us in the chatroom! Or perhaps you'd like some tips on using your IRC client?