I think the "better chat" interface has already been done, over in #perl on freenode. Want to step outside the normal chat for a private conversation? Its all available.

What we are missing is an easy interface between CB and irc. Perhaps a simple link to an http implementation of irc? Of course, [http://cgiirc.sourceforge.net/|the solution has already been provided in perl.

Is anyone willing to host the cgi? I'm not sure if perlmonk.org is an option or not. Of course traditional users of irc can use whatever interface they prefer.