Chat window efficiency
Ever notice how IM windows waste a lot of space with timestamps? Seriously, I don’t give a crap when someone says something, just what they say. I’m weird that way.
And IMs from a person contain the name of that person? Their name is already on the tab, what do I need it in the chat for?
What a lot of wasted space.
Here’s how you can clean that up a bit:
- Open Preferences (Control -P).
- Click the Colors tab.
- Set My text color to a unique color (I chose orange).
- Set all other colors to something other than that color (I chose white). You should avoid the colors you chose for:
- Your Keyword Alerts color (Preferences >> Chat >> Keyword Alerts >> Enable Color Alert).
- Any Contact Sets chat color (Conversations >> Contacts >> Contact Sets >> Settings >> Set Color).
- Click OK.
- Click the Chat tab.
- Click the Chat Windows top tab.
- Under Show names in direct IMs, uncheck the checkbox.
- Under Show IMs in, click Tab.
- Under Chat Tab Mode Orientation, click Vertical. (Vertical tabs are easier to navigate than horizontal ones. Trust me.)
- Click OK.
- Click the Visuals top tab.
- Under Show timestamps in, uncheck the IM checkbox.
- Click OK.
You will need to restart Firestorm for this all to take effect.
Your IMs will still show the other person’s chat in white and yours in the unique color you chose (mine appears as orange, and Web is on my Nice People contact set so she appears in green, not white). Takes a while to get used to, but it’s great for saving space.
But I need names and timestamps to show how much of a jerk someone is!
Use your chat transcript file.