Chax - Add new features to iChat

Feb 09, '06 07:05:00AM

Contributed by: robg

Chax imageThe macosxhints Rating:
9 of 10
[Score: 9 out of 10]

I use iChat quite a bit. OK. I use it a lot. It's my primary interface for reaching the far-flung members of Macworld's editorial team, and it keeps me in touch with friends and family who would otherwise have to wait for me to write a letter or email (yea, right!) or pick up the phone. As such, I'm always looking for ways to make iChat better -- and yes, I've tried the various replacement options, but keep coming back to iChat for its great audio and video chat support.

One such enhancement is Chax, a donations-accepted plug-in for iChat. Installation is a simple double-click and relaunch of iChat, after which you'll find a new Chax section in iChat's preferences. Without covering everything Chax does, here are a few of the features I find especially useful: Chax does a lot more, too -- Dan Frakes covered it in detail in a Mac Gems writeup a month or so ago. Read his review for the scoop on everything it offers, or visit the Chax web page for a full feature list. Just be aware that there's no real documentation, and not every new feature is found in the Chax preferences screen. For instance, hiding a given buddy's status line is in the View menu, and the log viewer is in the Window menu.

These minor quibbles aside, I love this addition to iChat!

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Mac OS X Hints
http://hints.macworld.com/article.php?story=2006020907052268