Skip to Content
Mac OS X Hacks
book

Mac OS X Hacks

by Kevin Hemenway, Rael Dornfest
March 2003
Beginner
432 pages
11h 30m
English
O'Reilly Media, Inc.
Content preview from Mac OS X Hacks

Top iChat Tips

iChat is more than just a great instant messenger client. Here is a collection of tips to get the most out of this fabulous addition to the iApp family.

The moment it became available, just about every Mac geek I knew dropped their AIMs, Adiums, Fires, Jabbers, and Proteuses and made the switch to iChat, Apple’s iApp-flavored instant messaging client. What’s not to love? It’s colorful, friendly, and decidedly Mac. But there’s more beneath the candy-coated surface than just another instant messenger (IM) application.

This hack is all about getting the most out of iChat through a few useful tips and delightful surprises discovered between “Up late?,” “We’re moving that meeting to Friday,” and “Dinner’s ready!”

Into the Well

Before you do anything else, be sure to put a face to your IM name. There’s nothing quite as distancing as a conversation with a generic AIM (AOL Instant Messenger) icon. Whether you choose a cartoon character close to your heart or a recent promo snapshot you were badgered into, simply drag an image into the buddy icon well at the top right of the iChat buddy list window (see Figure 3-1) and it’ll appear along with your name or IM handle in your buddies’ buddy lists.

Dragging a picture into the buddy icon well

Figure 3-1. Dragging a picture into the buddy icon well

As shown in Figure 3-2, iChat’s Buddy Icon dialog allows you to scale and position your preferred image until it’s just right. ...

Become an O’Reilly member and get unlimited access to this title plus top books and audiobooks from O’Reilly and nearly 200 top publishers, thousands of courses curated by job role, 150+ live events each month,
and much more.

Read now

Unlock full access

More than 5,000 organizations count on O’Reilly

AirBnbBlueOriginElectronic ArtsHomeDepotNasdaqRakutenTata Consultancy Services

QuotationMarkO’Reilly covers everything we've got, with content to help us build a world-class technology community, upgrade the capabilities and competencies of our teams, and improve overall team performance as well as their engagement.
Julian F.
Head of Cybersecurity
QuotationMarkI wanted to learn C and C++, but it didn't click for me until I picked up an O'Reilly book. When I went on the O’Reilly platform, I was astonished to find all the books there, plus live events and sandboxes so you could play around with the technology.
Addison B.
Field Engineer
QuotationMarkI’ve been on the O’Reilly platform for more than eight years. I use a couple of learning platforms, but I'm on O'Reilly more than anybody else. When you're there, you start learning. I'm never disappointed.
Amir M.
Data Platform Tech Lead
QuotationMarkI'm always learning. So when I got on to O'Reilly, I was like a kid in a candy store. There are playlists. There are answers. There's on-demand training. It's worth its weight in gold, in terms of what it allows me to do.
Mark W.
Embedded Software Engineer

You might also like

Pro Oracle Database 11g RAC on Linux

Pro Oracle Database 11g RAC on Linux

Steve Shaw, Martin Bach
UNIX° TEXT PROCESSING

UNIX° TEXT PROCESSING

Dale Dougherty, Tim O'Reilly

Publisher Resources

ISBN: 0596004605Catalog PageErrata