Ralph Johns

iChat In Pictures >> You are in Folder 2_iChat Menus

	4[8]	4 Menu View	02-10-2006

To use the currently displayed Dark Text shown here, the Buddy List itself has to be the front window.

Some of the other greyed out options in the pic are for Text chatting ( A Chat window has to be the Front Window). They allow you to set the Name and Buddy Icon next to the Balloon for your Buddies Incoming Text. I say Balloon but even that can be changed here. The "Show As Text" option allows you to set coloured bands that the messages appear in. They are stacked one above the other rather than the Bubbles having you on one side and the Buddies on the other.

As you can see you can even have a background to a Text chat Window. The picture you choose should be something small in pixel per inch/cm such as 72dpi (28.345/cm) and repeatable if your chat window is large at times as it will tile to display in a larger window. You can use a large area sized pic but only part will show when you have smaller windows.

The "Sort By..." options can be used twice as in Name then Availability to have the Buddy List as ordered as it can be. It is not until iChat 4 that you can Manually sort the List. One option is always ticked in iChat 3 and earlier. In iChat 2, Buddies do not always sort themselves alphabetically when they go Off-Line, Idle or Away and come back if one of the Name options have not been used first.

This Menu also displays an extra item with a sticking plaster icon. This is added by the Add-On called Chax. The feature set of Chax changes depending which version you have. The versions are also iChat version specific. Some of the Features for the iChat 3 version are included in iChat 4 and arer not available.

The Status for Hiding or revealing the Chat Participants is not active until you are in a Group (chatroom) Chat. Hiding the popout Drawer and moving the Chat window to the Edge of the screen and then using the Show Participants that is seen in it's stead will force the pop out Drawer to open on the furthest side from the screen edge.

In iChat 2 the Show Groups option is also a pop out drawer on the Buddy list and responds the same way if you move the Buddy List from one side of the screen to the other. This pop out drawer can be then used to show All Buddies or by group by turning the display of some On or Off. In iChat 3 and later "Show Groups" places title bands in the Buddy list and the Buddies are seen in separate parts of the List. (there are no Group options in iChat version 1)

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©  2005 Ralph Johns: Edited 24/9/2005, 5/5/2006
Updated September 2006
Updated October 2008

Information Block

This site is about iChat from Version 1 through to iChat 4.x.x

It has a mixture of basic info and problem solving help.

The setions below will change for Specifics about info on the page on view

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About This Page

The 4th picture in the menu sequence - The View Menu.

This one has the most changes to the items and what they do compared to the window that is open and Front within iChat. The current dark and active text items are the ones that work with the Buddy List(s). The lower Greyed out ones work or are active when a Text Chat is open.

This menu also tends to have the most changes between the different versions of iChat. iChat 4 for instance includes a Text Resizing set of options and other options for displaying the Text in a Chat other than Text and Ballons. iChat 1 does not have Groups in the Buddy List

Compatibility

Confirmed to work with Win/IE 5.5 and later (should work in 5.0, but not confirmed), Firefox 2, Safari 3, Opera 9, iCab 3.02 and later, Mac/IE 5, Netscape 6 and later

Old browsers (IE version 4 or earlier, Netscape 4 or earlier) should only see a text-based page which, while not the prettiest option, is still entirely usable.