iChat tweaking
 

I used to love iChat, I use it every single day and still enjoy its simplicity. Recently i've been more and more annoyed by how much valuable screen real-estate it takes up. I'd rather not switch to another client because I enjou having my icon and status message state what song im listening to. Are there any work-arounds to make iChat smaller, less obtrusive, or possibly transparent. Any input/options are much appreciated.

There are a lot of things you can do to customize iChat. I'm guessing you already know many of them. Have you messed around with iChat: Preferences: Messages? Changing the font size can help and then you can change the View from Show as Balloons to Show as Text.

There are a lot of iChat related utilities on macupdate.com and versiontracker.com. Perhaps you will find something helpful at one of those sites.

Thanks Bruce, but i was thinking more along the lines of skinning it or adding transparency to the actual buddy list, not the messages.

For a while I was very upset at the metal appearance of Safari. By reading a few of the hints on the main site I was able to use the Developer Tools to change the main browser window from metal to white. Since then I have used the Developer tools a couple of other times with other apps.

I'm no expert, but modifying iChat would go something like this.

1. Install Developer Tools.
2. Make a copy of iChat.
3. Control click on the copy, select "Show Package Contents."
4. Navigate to Resources/English.lproj
5. Open PeopleList.nib
6. uhhh, do stuff to it.
7. Save, close, try out the changes.

Have fun, -Bruce.

ugh. I have no programming knowledge and I am getting nowhere. Am I the only one who shares this gripe? Maybe some sort of hiding could be added like the hiding on the dock so when you move your mouse to a corner of the screen you select your buddy list slides into view and goes away when you move away. That would be very neat

If its the buddy list that you don't like taking up real-estate, why not just close it? You can access your buddy list from the ichat menu extra.

Bruce, how exactly do i "mess with stuff" this looks like what i need to make the app transparent but i can't seem to figure out what to do or accomplish anything but screwing ichat up. Thanks

st. duo, menu real estate is also a problem, i want to be able to see when buddies sign on without having to open up a menu or expose. Simply what i want is a semi transparent buddy list without that brushed metal crap taking up so much room. There is a widget for Konfabulator but i have since thrown konfabulator out the window with the arrival of tiger.

I wish there was a dashboard widget for this!

I don't know. I know just enough to be able to change the color of the main window in Safari from metal to white -about every other time that I try to!

I'm sure there will be several widgets for iChat before too long.

Others have suggested a few workarounds. I will add the yellow button that puts your buddy list in the dock to the list of suggestions.

Although not quite what you are looking for, I've found the following setup rather effective since I too hate having the iChat Buddy List chewing up space.

I close the Buddy List as was mentioned before, but I then set up iChat to speak the name of a Buddy that has signed on. It works well, plus I can watch a movie in full screen and still know if someone I want to talk to has just signed on.

i just found a great widget called iChatter that essintially moves the buddylist to the Dashboard :)

http://www.dashboardwidgets.com/show...ls.php?wid=247

its not as ugly as it looks on the website either ;)

you let your buddies interupt your movies :eek:

though that is a good idea, I couldnt deal with the constant banter. My buddies jump around too much for that.

Nice find! I bet the author would really appreciate a note of thanks.

http://www.rocksandpaper.com/archive...05/03/ichatter

Who knows, he might even add a feature or two to the next version for you if you ask nice! :-)

(Make a copy of safari is recommended.) Make sure your developer tools are installed. Navigate to /Applications/Safari. Bring up the contextual menu (control/right - click) and select Show Package Contents. Navigate to Contents/Resources/English.lproj/ and open Browser.nib (Interface Builder will load.)

Open the Inspector (Don't click on the browser window.) Select Attributes from the pop-up menu. Then untick the Has Texture checkbox. You can see the metal disappear in the browser window.

Save and quit, then enjoy a metal-less experience :)

:o I just re-read your post and realised you know how to do this. Its there for anyone else that wishes to try instead then. :rolleyes: I don't think my brain works properly at 7AM...

but i didn't, Thanks Nemo

WOW! Apps look so much better freed from that dreary Brushed metal, can i do this with the Finder as well?

I feel cool being a n00b as far as Developer Tools goes :cool: :cool:

also, i cant seem to find this file in iTunes where brushed metal really bothers me the most, anyone know how to tweak that :P

From the quick look I've just had, iTunes looks as though it uses a .rsrc file to hold this data instead of a .nib file. I think (big think!) that this is a resource file that can be edited with something like ResEdit.

Not very sure on that though.

ill back it up and give it a shot, any tips this sounds cool. I have dabbled in ResEdit when it was in its days of OS 9 but I have long since forgoten. I'll post any results though

Any Tips?

iTunes and QuickTime do not follow standard conventions as far as the look goes. This site might be a good place to start looking for info.

http://www.resexcellence.com/user_iTunes.shtml

no offense to those skinners but those arent exactly what im looking for. I am attempting to make my own using one of the better ones as a model though.

I prayed Apple would kill brushed metal in Tiger, it just doesn't fit with the elegance of it imho :(

Check out ThemePark. It is advertised as a way to make themes but it will also edit the resource files used by iTunes.

http://www.geekspiff.com/software/themepark/

iChat/Adium
 

I know you said you didn't want to change from iChat, but everything you want can be found in an program called Adium. It allows for the buddy list to slide in and out, be transparent, as small as you like. It's completely customizable. The website is: http://www.adiumx.com. I have used it for a long time now and have had no problems with it. It doesn't have the video or audio chat capabilities iChat has, but it's just as good with messaging and better with customizing.