Find me an IRC client that doesn't suck

proXimity

Try as I might, I have not been able to find a satisfactory IRC client for my windows computer. I absolutely love Colloquy on my mac, which has kind of spoiled me... no windows client I have tried is able to measure up to it's clean, functional, and not ass-ugly interface.
Tabbed channel windows, single window interface, clear text formatting, the ability to change what side the buddy list is on... these are all things I'm looking for. I keep my chat windows open on the right third of the screen so I can see chat while I'm doing other things like browsing the web- thus, a client that has one big window with lots of little windows inside is a no-no (full screen IRC is retarded). The closest I've been able find to these requirements is Quassel, but even that is pretty hideous.
Doesn't anybody make a decent looking IRC client? From what I've been able to find, they're all stuck in the mid 90's, and people seem to think that IRC is supposed to look old. Fuck that.

Please, nobody suggest mIRC. mIRC sucks. Horribly. It's interface is as bad as any.

I don't need any advance scripting or moderation tools, either.

Zedar

I'm really not sure you're going to have much luck here. IRC is slowly dying off, and as such there isn't really much incentive for anyone to provide exciting and attractive new interfaces. Generally only old and established IRC clients have enough active users to still be under development, and of course they also have old fashioned interfaces because they've been around for ages.

bobmyknob

xchat is the popular one, I've had some trouble with it so I switched to Pidgin (which also has the plus of being a multi-protocol IM client).

kitch

It's hard to find anything like Colloquy on Windows. Most people go with XChat, Pidgin, or use an interface script for mIRC like NoNameScript (which is mostly just color changes and obviously not what you want).

mcdermott

Man, I don't get it...mIRC is a perfectly beautiful IRC client.

On Windows 3.1. Good ol' Trumpet Winsock.

Good luck, man. I've yet to find anything quite as nice as Colloquy for Windows. I always wind up falling back to good ol' mIRC, because even though it's butt-fucking-ugly I know how to use it.

corky842

I'm using leafChat, and I rather like it. Not quite as customizable as you'd like, but probably worth a try.

Impersonator

If you use Opera it has an in-built IRC client which is quite awesome.

Jimmy King

I use the Silverex build of x-chat on Windows. I've tried a few others and they all kind of sucked. You will probably consider it ass ugly if you also dislike Quassel... that's just how IRC clients look on Windows, I guess.

Weretaco

For windows

www.pidgin.im for your IM + IRC needs

www.silverex.org for the free xchat for windows