Ralph Johns

iChat Information Pages

Version 4

 


iChat Icon

These iChat 4 pages are coloured Gray and have the iChat 4 icon on them that was in use at the time, so you know where you are. The icon differs little from the Version 3 version.

 

iChat 4 Pictures Menus

You are In:- iChat >> Versions >> iChat 4 >> iChat 4 Pictures Index >> iChat 4 Menu Index >> View Menu
4[8] 04 View Menu. Oct 2008

This is the iChat 4 View menu.

The top section of this menu deals with how Buddies are displayed in the Buddy List (Show Buddy pics and Video or Audio icons (Status) and whether Offline Buddies are shown and If Groups are used.)

 Changed. The next setion deals with how the Buddy List is ordered. The Sorting choices are now a Sub Menu. Sorting by either First of Last Name is an Alphabetical choice. You can use a two pass method and get them Alphabetical then by Availability.

 New. Added is how the Buddy Names appears in the List. Full Name is First and Last name as per the iChat Info card and Address Book. Short Name tends to be First Name Only (if there is one). The iChat Info Card adds a place to add a Nickname and this sub menu controls if those (If available) are shown instead.

In the following section the Participants drawer in a Group chat can be toggle On (Reveal) or Off (Hide as it presently reads). You can choose if the text option for Smileys or the Smileys themselves are seen at your end. I forget what Chat Options actually does.

 New. The Always Show Receipts Bar adds a header info bar about who the Chat is with in Text chats with an icon to tell you if it is an AIM Name (Running Man) an Apple name (Blue Globe) or a Jabber ID (Light Bulb)

 Changed. Messages becomes a sub menu of several things that were in different parts of the menu before.

Show Smileys is now in this sub menu.

The next section in the Submenu controls how the Text chat looks as far as Ballons (Speech Bubbles), Boxes (you move to the left and each IM has a header), Compact (Still on the left but has a leader rather than header) or Text (plain coloured bar). The background colour of these is as you choose in the iChat Menu > Preferences > Messages

The Show Pictures, Show Name or Show both are options that is availble in any Text chat when one is open and have been added to the above Submenu. In Group chats I use the Show both option as when there are about 20 people the chances of the same Bubble and Font choices and the same icon/ Buddy picture goes up.

By default the Text Chat background is plain white. The colour cannot be changed.You can hoever drag any picture to this and it will become the Background. This menu gives you a navigation method of selecting a picture. Small pictures get tiled. It does not matter how complicated the picture is as the Bubbles/ballons or other choice is put over the top. A chat window has to be open from any Buddy List (even if you do not actually send anything) to have access to this choice. Once made it applies to all subsequent Chats until you change the picture or use the Clear option.

 New. Use Alerts in the Chat is a new Feature. I must admit to not having used it. It might explain why some people have issues with some Alert sounds not playing.

Certain Add-ons add things to this menu at the bottom.


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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 sections below will change for Specifics about info on the page on view

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About This Page

The changes, new features and what this menu controls.

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.