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.

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 In that time the AIM servers have been closed down (2017) and iChat has been superseded by Message and FaceTime. That effectively make this a sort of Historical Document of how it worked.

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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

4 View Menu

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.)

A Change. The next section deals with how the Buddy List is ordered. The Sorting choices are now a Sub Menu. However the sorting by either First of Last Name is an Alphabetical choice and remains the same as does the fact you can use a two pass method and get them Alphabetical then by Availability.

A New thing. 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. As I have said in earleir versions you could choose "Dad" as a First Name and then have the Family name as Last Name to highlight which side of the family he is from. With the Nickname option means you don't have to do this any more.

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.

Another New item. 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)

A Changed item. 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 Balloons (Speech Bubbles), Boxes (you move to the left with everyone else 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 (where it looks like choosing Bubbles).

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 however 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.

A New thing. Use Alerts in this 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. Globally Alert Sounds are linked to Actions/Events in the Action pane of the Preferences from the Applictaion Menu. Or... they can be set via the Address Card for a Buddy on an indiviual basis. I tended to use the global Settings with some specific people havng their Own sounds so I never really saw the point of this setting.

Certain Add-ons add things to this menu at the bottom. In this case ShowMacster that added extra Effects and Backdrops and Powerboost that helped with slow Internet Connections.

Next - Buddies

Created with JAlbum 4.0.6

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Created October, 2008 Major Update/Edit October 2024.

 ©  Ralph Johns. Created October 2008

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 changes, new features and what this menu controls.

The View Menu does what it says on the tin. It helps change the display of the windows of the things shown in some windows to be able to personalise ichat for your preferences.

Nicknames were a bonus. Four different ways to show text ina chat was Apple just shwoing Off as it only showed at your end or if a Buddy was using the same setting at their end. Jabber Apps and AIM apps could never do anything but display messages down the left hand edge of a chat window

Compatibility

As mentioned above this has had a major Edit/Update in September/October 2024 moving towards being fully HTML 5 compliant 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) should/may only see a text-based page which, while not the prettiest option, is still entirely usable.

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