ralphjohns.co.uk/

Historical Document

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 In that time the AIM servers have been closed down (2017) and iChat has been superseded by Messages. That effectively make this a sort of Historical Document of how it worked.

I will make attempts to renew and refresh Links to either the most current site or use the Way Back Machine Archive so that people can at least look at what was used. I will make Edit Notes on this and on those where I can find no link to replace the older one as I go through the document.

iChat Windows

iChat In Pictures >> Your are in Folder 4_iChat Windows >> Page: Text Chat

6[15]

6 Text Chat Window

19-10-2008

There are several way to Start a chat - from the Buddies Menu, from the File Menu or the simplest is to Double Click on the line a Buddy is on in the Buddy List - but they all will open a Window like this.

If you choose Bubbles, which is the default, it will display your Buddy pic on the right of the Chat and your Buddy on the left. The Chat in the pic is actually a Bonjour Chat between two Macs running Leopard and iChat 4.x.x hence it is a little confusing as I was logged into both. Choosing Text as the display option will place the IMs one above the other.

The top of the window has a Title which will tell you who the chat is with. The grey header to the actual chat contents will tell you again who it is with but also their Screen Name or any "Real Name" info you added plus the date & time the Chat started. This bit is the area that Bonjour cannot resolve if the User Account is the same. I am "Ralph Johns" according to the Address Card on each computer. However Bonjour also uses the User Account name (ralphjohns) AND the Computer Name (macintosh) to try and distinguish who is who so to speak. So despite my Address Cards saying the same Name the computer name is different so the connection is resolved. Having your Mac User Account with different names can also help, such as "ralph" instead of "ralphjohns".

As the Chat progresses similar grey messages like the Title mentioned above will appear in the Chat window in the center, mostly time stamps or when it changes to Direct Chats for sending Pictures and Files.

In iChat 4 if you type /me at the begining of sending an IM in a Chat it will become a little grey message. As it puts your name in front, an Action is the best thing to send. In Bonjour the text can be sent as you type so it appears in the Window and the Text Entry field as shown in this picture.

This comes from ICQ Actions. ICQ is part of AOL and uses the same Servers as their Own AIM Client and iChat does.

Next:- Audio Chat Window

Upward Arrow saying Top Top of page

Created with JAlbum 4.0.6

© 2005 Ralph Johns: Edited 24/9/2005, 5/5/2006
Updated September 2006
Updated October 2008. Reviewed and Updated to HTML 5 October 2024

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

Options to This Page

To the right you can resize or colour the page as well as choose one of three Fonts.

About This Page

This page is about the Text Chat Window. It shows a Bonjour Chat in progress and the main info talks about resolving IDs if the computer Name and the User Account and Address Books are the same on both computers. Bonjour cannot resolve you being in two places at once as it were.

The info goes on to decribe the ICQ action of starting a Text entry with /me which adds to the little messages in the chat that are normally Time stamps of Actions like Buddy Leaving or joining or Sending files.

Compatibility

Much of this page has been altered to be as HTML 5 compatible as possible. This may cause issues with any of the Browser below.

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.

Previously 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) may only see a text-based page which, while not the prettiest option, is still entirely usable.