These iChatAV (Version 2) pages are coloured Green and have the iChat 2 icon on them that was in use at the time, so you know where you are. The icon differs from Version 1 by having the camera logo added.

These pages have sat here since 2008 with no update. In that time the AIM servers have been closed down (2017) and iChat has been superseded by Messages. That effectively make this a sort of Historical Document of how it worked.

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iChatAV (Version 2) Pictures

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03 iChat 2 Messages Preferences

Oct 2008

3 Messages Preferences Picture

This is the iChat 2 Messages Preferences.

This is where you set the Basic formatting of your IM messages in any Text chat. You can choose Font (Style) Font Colour and Bubble Colour. The drop downs for the Colours display some presets and an option for Other for you to be more adventurous. This will bring up the system wide Colour Pallet (where you can use "Crayons", the colour wheel, "Spectrum" and the like).

Choose a Font most of your Buddies will have. If they don't have the Font you have then it will default to Helvetica as will their incoming message if you do not have their Font. Also generally stick to Light on Dark or Dark on Light for the Font colour on the Bubble background. Although not able to be changed here the same Bubble colour is used as the Text background when "Show as Text" is set in the View Menu

You can over-ride incoming IM's by Reformatting them into something you can Read. If I used this I would tend to set only the Font and leave the colours as Colours can be useful in Group chats to identify different Buddies if they happen to have the same Buddy pic.

The "Confirm before Sending files" option create an extra pop up window when sending files to click before a file is sent. It gives you the chance to read the name of the item you are sending as a check it is the right one.

When you have "Automatically Save Transcripts" selected every Text chat whether group or one-to-one chat is saved. It saves them on Quitting the chat concerned. It saves them in the iChat format so reopening one whilst in iChat makes it look like a chat (again) and it will be scrollable. They are saved inside your Documents folder in a folder created by iChat called iChats (~/Documents/iChats) They are saved by Name and Dated & Timed in the file name. They can be reopened by iChat File Menu or by double clicking on them. SimpleText can open them but they then look like an HTML Document and are less readable.

Any Picture that was sent in the chat will still display and will dynamically adjust it size with the Chat window but is not drag-able to the Desktop as it would be in a Live Chat.

The option for "Rendezvous to Send text as I type" as you do it does a fairly could job if you are a slow typist. It does catch up if you pause to read what you have written before sending it. It will show every keystroke so you can not take back a message to your brother "You Smell !!" as it will show it and whatever you change it to as you relent.

Next we have the Alerts Pane

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Information Block

This site is about iChat from Version 1 through to iChat 5.x.x
Mostly this is kept as an Historical Document. Some small tense changes have been made but the content is by and large untouched.

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

About This Page

The Messages Preferences. Where to control Saving all Text chats as well as basic Formatting of your Font Choice and Colours of Font and Bubbles with words to the wise about coloured Fonts on Coloured Bubbles.

Compatibility

As mentioned above this has had a major Edit/Update in September 2024 meaning that the Browsers listed below are likely to no longer work.

I have tested in Safari 18.1, Firefox 130.x and 131.0, Vivaldi 6.9.3447.48 and iCab 6.2.3 (All Mac Browsers) I don't have access to a PC let alone multiple browsers to test on.

The original pages worked 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) would only see a text-based page which, while not the prettiest option, is still entirely usable.