Chax
Warp
GlyphaChax 1.5
One last trailing bug has been fixed since the beta, but nothing else new, as I’m about dry on features until Leopard comes out.
I’m not yet sure what the future of Chax will be once Leopard comes out, but I do want to bring the more useful features up to Leopard. I don’t know what the final verdict is on Input Managers in Leopard, but from what I’m hearing it won’t be as easily accessible as it is in 10.4. Unfortunately this doesn’t leave any other built-in ways of loading into other applications. While it’s an improvement from a security standpoint, it does leave all of the Input Manager-based hacks out in the cold. I’ll be looking at different options for continuing Chax in 10.5 as soon as it is released, but if anyone has any suggestions for loading into other applications I’d be willing to hear them!
Changes from Chax 1.4.9:
- (Bug) Fixed an issue where some incoming messages could not be accepted
- (Bug) Fixed missing strings in the Italian localization
- (Bug) Increased responsiveness of the log viewer
- (Bug) Log viewer now sorts logs by creation date
- (Bug) Fixed an issue where the Chax preferences could become hidden
September 4th, 2007 at 7:44 pm
Thanks for all of your hard work! VERY much appreciated!
Just a tiny suggestion:
have the shortcut be shift+apple+brackets for tab switching, to stay consistent with how Safari switches tabs
September 4th, 2007 at 10:12 pm
Thanks for your work! I tried to install Chax, and it tells me it has been installed but the Chax tab won’t come up in my iChat preferences. Any ideas about what I can do?
September 4th, 2007 at 11:17 pm
@ljun
You can set the shortcut to be that – go into prefs/chax/tabs, and set switch tabs using to cmd{ and cmd} – its worded different, but the same thing.
Linc.
September 5th, 2007 at 12:45 am
Chax is great as always!
You should probably update the year of the copyright notice in the preferences. Right now it goes up to 2006.
September 5th, 2007 at 7:24 pm
If you all out of ideas, why don’t you look at other apps to see things they offer that you want (or are able to do) in ichat. For instance some cool message styles using css if it is possible in ichat. That would be cool.
September 5th, 2007 at 8:07 pm
I’ve never regretted the $ I spent on this, bravo for continuing to update.
A suggestion: Is it possible to prevent the stupid “are you sure you want to save this file?” dialog on file transfers from either
a) appearing at all, it’s annoying
or
b) at least not stealing focus, and then canceling when you hit the spacebar (which is mapped to Cancel) when you’re typing as a transfer ends? It’s a *horrible* user interface which keeps tripping me up
September 6th, 2007 at 12:53 am
Selecting the Hide Chat Windows when not active causes the iChat Icon to always be placed at the end of the Application Switcher (Command + Tab). This makes it very inconvenient to rapidly swich between ichat and the current active applciation (especially when there are numerious applications running. It would be nice if you could separate these two features so that when you chose to hide your ichat windows at least you could pull them back up easily via the application switcher. As it is, you have to tab through numerious (how ever many apps you have open) applications before you can swithc to ichat.
September 7th, 2007 at 12:27 pm
There seems to be a bug in the “return from screen-saver auto-away when screen-saver stops” option. It doesn’t seem to work reliably. It often leaves my status in screen-saver auto-away mode when I return from sleep. I have to manually change the status in the Buddy List dropdown. I am running on iBook with OS X 10.4.10
September 8th, 2007 at 3:26 pm
Still can’t get growl to work.
September 8th, 2007 at 3:38 pm
I’ve been using Chax for a long time. It is installed in /Library and was still on 1.4.8 when I tried to install 1.5. However whether I choose all users or this user only it asks for my admin pass 3 times and then just drops back to the main dialogue box having done nothing but turned the update button into an install button. Not that 10.4.8 is bad but this is the first time I’ve ever had this problem with Chax and I’d like to go to the new version.
September 8th, 2007 at 4:55 pm
Great extension for ichat.
I peg for a new feature: Make contact list as long as people are online not offline. That would be great. (an autoresizing window) like the new beta of LittleSnitch has.
thanks
Rob
September 8th, 2007 at 8:05 pm
I’ve just discovered Chax – looks like a tremendous product and fills a lot of gaps. But why no option to auto-accept Video (or Audio) invitations? Obviously there are some privacy concerns but there could be the necessary health warnings. There is an option in the ichat preferences file to do this – AutoAcceptVCInvitations. A nice add-on would be to only accept VC invitations from specific buddies although I’ve no idea how you could do this.
September 10th, 2007 at 2:26 pm
Tried to install 1.5 for all users, but after it asks for my password I get taken back to the original dialog box. Gets stuck in an endless loop.
Tried to install for just the current user and it says that it installed but the Chax about screen still shows 1.4.9.
September 10th, 2007 at 7:26 pm
I have been having the same problem as ‘Craig’ and also ‘James Graber’. Both comments are above. Please let me know how to overcome this problem as I have been an avid user of Chax and would like to continue. Many thanks.
September 11th, 2007 at 11:30 am
Excellent product!
Here is a suggestion for a new feature: Tag a user that is offline to give a notification when they come online. For instance, if BobB is offline and I need to chat with him as soon as he comes online, I tag him. When he comes online, iChat/x makes a special sound notifying me.
September 11th, 2007 at 3:25 pm
Hey,
I love the product! But is there anyway you could write a simple code to disable the “Comfirm Window Close” tab.
I really hate it and I loves me my Apple+W shortcut.
September 11th, 2007 at 3:49 pm
On the bottom of the About tab it says “Copyright © 2005-2006″ instead of “2005-2007″.
September 12th, 2007 at 3:10 pm
A persistent issue that I have with Chax (though minor) is that with it installed, full-screen is REALLY full-screen. I mean, when I hit the green button, I DO want it to take up the vertical dimensions allowed by my screen, but making it take up the whole horizontal width of my screen is NOT what I want.
The default behaviour of iChat is preferable to how Chax handles the window when maximized. I find I end up installing chax, getting annoyed, uninstalling, then starting the whole process again in a few days — I like almost every other feature of chax, but this persistent behaviour (bug/glitch) always sends me back to regular ol’ iChat every few days to escape that annoyance.
Any chance this will be addressed?
September 12th, 2007 at 9:43 pm
if you are in need of new feature ideas, what about a tabbed buddy list so that you can have your aim, bonjour and jabber buddies in different tabs in the same window instead of needing to have a separate window open for each list
September 13th, 2007 at 4:57 am
I have few problems with Chax, since I’ve installed 1.5 version when I use “More Info” option on a contact it shows just empty box without anything inside. An other problem since version 1.4.8 or 1.4.7 (don’t remember exactly) is that if few people (i.e. 3) leave me some msgs while I’m offline and then I go online a window will show up but just with 1 tab!! I can’t see msgs from other contacts which wrote to me. I can see they did in logs. I cannot write to them because iChat says I have already a msg window open with that contact. I like Chax but that second problem is really annoying
MacOSX 10.4.10 + Chax 1.5 + Jabber account.
September 14th, 2007 at 9:32 am
I love chax, but i have the same problem as craig, above. i can’t install due to endless loop when it asks for user name + password. any suggestions?
September 14th, 2007 at 9:49 am
If you’re looking for a feature to add, when the log viewer is brought up, it’s be cool if typing a ‘d’ would take me to the first screenname starting with d (and continued typing would continue to move the highlight bar), the same way iChat does with the buddy list.
Thanks.
September 14th, 2007 at 1:23 pm
Great product, can’t use iChat without it.
Is there any way (new feature?) to consolidate chat logs between various machines that I use iChat/Chax on?
Would be a very handy feature!
September 15th, 2007 at 9:57 pm
great product. anyway to make a “Fix Your Last Input” type thing? Adium has a great plugin for it. Also a way to incorparate adium extras would be nice like typing in “/I want to do this” to run applescript or other stuff would be nice.
thanks for he hard work.
September 15th, 2007 at 11:00 pm
I’ve been very impressed with Chax. Great work! Thank you.
Quick question… are there any plans for a feature that would give the ability to set different buddy icons for different states? Even if it was a simple two-state feature, for any Available or Away state. Multiple icons for each available or away status could be in a future version.
THANKS!
September 16th, 2007 at 5:41 pm
Just wanted to make a request in a future version: showing the idle minutes of users that are away.
Thanks for such a great product. Keep up the great work.
September 18th, 2007 at 3:07 pm
Hey, ichat is quitting on launch for me as of 1.5. What can I do to get you more useful information? Email me and I’ll help however I can.
September 18th, 2007 at 3:45 pm
Wait, no, nevermind. I rebooted and all is well.
September 20th, 2007 at 12:04 am
Has anyone ever suggested the ability to tell the system that you are “idle” or tell it not to report that you aren’t, for example an “idle stick” option that stays until you tell it you are available. I don’t always want people to know when i sit down and move my mouse. Maybe a pop up box that says “tell aim that you are now not idle”.
Currently I leave it in “don’t show that i am idle”. At first people think I’m always here – then they assume i’m never here. It would be easier if I could pick what they thought (ie: what I showed them).
Actually an “always idle” checkbox would also solve this.
September 20th, 2007 at 10:46 am
My boss just got a Mac, and asked me the following question. It seems like perfect fodder for Chax!
> so ichat does logging. does it have what gaim calls the history option? same thing in adium. basically when a window pops up to start a conversation it displays the last few lines from the log of that person. i.e when I’ve closed a window and someone answers a question an hour later with a single word, it reminds me what the question was
September 20th, 2007 at 10:58 pm
As I constantly paste things into iChat, I’m frustrated by the CR/LF/CRLF inconsistencies with line breaks. Is it possible that Chax could automatically convert all line breaks to CRLF before a message is sent? That would be awesome.
September 21st, 2007 at 9:40 am
Even though I have “Hide open windows and new messages when iChat is inactive” checked, iChat pops to the front every time I get a new message. This creates obvious privacy problems when I’m away from my desk and my iChat is appearing for all to see. This happened in 1.4.9 as well. I’ve had to revert back to 1.4.8 both times.
Despite this hiccup, I love Chax!
September 21st, 2007 at 10:11 am
Just tried 1.5 again and it isn’t installing. This time I opened the installer and clicked on remove, then install for all users. Chax 1.4.9 is still there.
September 23rd, 2007 at 3:27 pm
Great program, but i notice when you enable the auto reconnect if disconnect occurs, when you actually get disconnected, it reconnects you but if you had an away message on it will not put the away message back on but you will instead be available
another nice addon is to set yourself idle, so you can look idle without being idle
September 24th, 2007 at 11:34 am
Chax is great. Wondering…I could swear that on previous versions, I could close the single highlighted tab with “AppleKey + W” (while leaving the remaining tabs open). Now, that same key combination triggers a close window (close all tabs) command. Is there any way to customize this function in the prefs?
Or maybe I was just remembering creatively…ha.
September 26th, 2007 at 12:54 am
The installer for 1.5 seems to be broken. I type in my password and it doesn’t install anything when I click install.
September 26th, 2007 at 3:18 pm
problem: i turned on auto-reply a long time ago. it got annoying. i disabled it, but my ichat keeps auto-replying! what do i do? i already tried uninstalling it, appzapping it, reinstalling it, etc etc, but im at a loss
September 28th, 2007 at 8:42 am
I too have the problem that Chax 1.5 will not install for all users. From the “Install Chax” when I select “[ ] Install for all users”, click [Install], and type a correct administrator userid and password, I am returned to the “Install Chax” dialog. Any ideas?
September 28th, 2007 at 1:16 pm
does not work on OS X 10.5 Leopard, however, many of the improvements (i.e. tabbed chats) are found in the standard iChat 4.0 application
September 28th, 2007 at 11:51 pm
I love Chax. I am now running the latest seed of Leopard. There are a few things missing from iChat.
1) Auto set away after N minutes.
2) Auto expand/collapse of the Buddy List.
Chax rules.
Alan
September 29th, 2007 at 9:49 am
I really like Chax. Thank you. I have one problem and can’t find the solution . . . .
Growl notifications stopped working several versions ago. How do I bring it back?
Thanks in advance.
James
September 29th, 2007 at 1:11 pm
same as Emily
I use Leopard 10.5 and the installer workd fine, simply the “chax” icon is not apparent in the preferences window
strange
I read that it was Leopard friendly
by the way great app !
f e w
September 30th, 2007 at 11:40 am
For the Chax developer:
I might have a solution for Leopard transitioning. Could you contact me at me@infinite-labs.net ?
Sorry for the whole hush-hush secrecy thing,
– ∞
October 1st, 2007 at 6:10 am
Hi,
thanks for this lovely App whoch enriches iChat in a great way. I only have one problem: You can’t install it for every user if you are not in the admin-group (as my user is out of security reasons).
When I try to install as always a windows pops up asking me for login and password of an administrator but the installer already stopped complaining about missing rights.
October 2nd, 2007 at 11:05 am
I’ve been using iChax for ages now – and it’s never failed me. I can’t fault any bit of it.
We use iChat at my work, and I always have the three iChat windows open:
1) Buddy List
2) Bonjour and
3) Jabber List
Do you think it would be within the realms of iChax to be able to combine these three windows somehow? There would have to be some kind of handling for users that appear in more than one of the windows (EG: Buddy List and Bonjour). It would be fantastic if it happened, and it would definitely take up less of my desktop space!
October 3rd, 2007 at 11:52 am
I love Chax! It definitely enhances the usability of iChat greatly. I was wondering if there is anyway to make a time stamp for every message, like in AIM and Adium? Also, is it possible to add google chat as one of the supported systems? I don’t know if either of these are within your ability to affect but if so I would greatly appreciate it.
October 7th, 2007 at 1:54 am
Being able to hide that you’re typing would be nice too (:
But I really love Chax. Thanks!
October 9th, 2007 at 12:56 am
i LOVE chax! i was wondering if there’s a way to not only disable the a/v icon at the top of the buddy list, but to disable it from showing next to my name on other people’s lists?
thanks!
October 9th, 2007 at 3:24 am
I was wondering if there’s a way to disable notifications regarding messaging someone who’s on their phone/sidekick/mobile. Every time I hit “send” iChat harasses me about whether or not I would like to send a message to this person.
Hopefully it’s a simpler thing than integrating other messaging clients.
Chax is amazing ..
October 12th, 2007 at 10:00 am
Awesome product. Thanks, it makes iChat so much better.
Today I went to start a chat with one of my buddies, and had an idea that I think would make iChat even better. It would be nice if my buddy list could be just another tab (perhaps the top tab) in my iChat window. This would reduce 99.5% of all my iChat “Daily” usage to just one window.
Just a thought, most of the functionality in Chax I never knew I needed till you added it.
Thanks again.
Terry Riegel
October 14th, 2007 at 11:16 pm
First of all, great job on this release. However, a feature I’ve been waiting for hasn’t arrived yet, and that is customized audio alerts for those we would like to be notified of when they come online. It would be a great addition in my opinion.
October 15th, 2007 at 1:47 pm
Is is possible to suppress Growl notifications depending on the away message? For example, if I’m “In a meeting” I don’t want Growl to popup alerts from an iChat. (For that matter I don’t want Growl alerts from *any* application.) Can Chax do this?
October 15th, 2007 at 5:25 pm
Hey, I just upgraded and my screen is now flashing whenever I send or receive a message. Any idea what’s up?
October 16th, 2007 at 1:58 pm
> I’ll be looking at different options for continuing Chax in 10.5
> as soon as it is released, but if anyone has any suggestions for
> loading into other applications I’d be willing to hear them!
maybe PlugSuit http://millenomi.altervista.org/PlugSuit/ will do the trick:
PlugSuit is a plug-in manager for Mac OS X. It is designed to work (and keep working) in Mac OS X 10.5, Leopard, in addition to Tiger. It’s compatible with the plug-ins for Mike Solomon’s SIMBL and allows user-owned InputManager-based plug-ins, such as SafariStand and Inquisitor to work under Leopard.
October 18th, 2007 at 1:59 am
PLEASE! You must add an Import/Export feature for ichat. There is no way of importing or exporting buddy lists to other/new AIM screen names.
October 18th, 2007 at 11:41 am
I’m having a problem where if I chose a larger font size I can’t see the text any more [22 point]. And if I go back to a smaller one like 12 or so same thing. It’s like the baseline for the text gets pushed down and I can’t recover it.
Is there a setting for this? or?
October 18th, 2007 at 10:57 pm
Hi.
Just wondering I can use this software to access “activate” iChat remotely. I am hoping to basically “chat” with myself from my office to my house so I can see my baby daughter.
Hope this makes sense.
October 20th, 2007 at 2:35 pm
Glad to see an update! There is one thing about Chax that annoys me, though. If someone starts typing while their window is minimized, it will automatically show the chat window.
This is how it works: my buddy starts typing, and the window comes up. I minimize it. He stops typing long enough for iChat to think that he’s not, and then starts again. Window raises. I minimize. After a few rounds of this, he finally sends a message, and the window raises yet again.
I like the idea of unminimizing the window when a message is received, but raising the window when someone (slow) starts to type is silly.
I’m getting Leopard the day it comes out. Let’s hope Chax plays nice with iChat 4.
October 22nd, 2007 at 5:27 pm
Hi.
Are these msgs in console.log due to Chax?
2007-10-22 17:10:21.851 iChat[614] GrowlApplicationBridge: The Growl delegate did not supply a registration dictionary, and the app bundle at /Applications/iChat.app does not have one. Please tell this application’s developer.
October 24th, 2007 at 4:01 pm
whats the future of chax? the new ichat in leopard has animated icons, tabbed browsing etc….
October 24th, 2007 at 8:44 pm
…hopefully there will be a Chax for Leopard. While iChat has made progress, Chax would STILL add TONS of things to it! Changing your buddly list fonts, auto sizing the window, Growl notifications, etc. None of that is in the new iChat and will be sorely missed by me!
October 24th, 2007 at 11:17 pm
I would also recommend replying to that guy from infinity labs.. he does indeed have your solution.
October 25th, 2007 at 8:21 pm
Is an update bringing compatibility with Leopard coming soon?
October 26th, 2007 at 3:19 am
I’ll be updating to Leopard today, and I certainly hope that Chax will soon be updated to refine iChat 4.
October 26th, 2007 at 7:50 pm
I’ve had Leopard installed for a few hours now. I’m starting to get a nervous tick looking at iChat without Chax. I feel like it’s a downgrade. *LOL*
October 26th, 2007 at 7:56 pm
Oh dear GOD PLEASE…***PLEASE*** say there will be SOMETHING Chax-esque for Leopard!!! I realized how much I have grown to depend on Growl notifications for incoming messages, ESPECIALLY when using multiple virtual desktops!
I feel naked and alone…so very, very alone.
Help.
October 26th, 2007 at 8:57 pm
Can you please add a utility to change Away Message fonts and colors, and also to allow “return” spaces to skip a line in an away msg?
Also, how about adding hyperlink availability (to add a hyperlink to typed text) in both the away messages and the user profile?
THANKS!
October 26th, 2007 at 11:34 pm
Please, I implore you! We need Chax for Leopard! I now realize how much I depended on it. It’s almost enough to make me downgrade to Tiger!
October 27th, 2007 at 12:33 am
I just hope it works with Leopard soon!! I miss it already and it’s only been a few hours!
October 27th, 2007 at 5:48 am
My biggest disapointment with Leopard was:
- iChat still uses 3 buddylists.
I totally agree with Nathan.
Thanks for this lovely 24/7-program.
October 27th, 2007 at 10:01 am
I can has news on Leopard update plz?
October 27th, 2007 at 10:14 am
ha….. i just installed leopard and was like….. why….. why do i feel so wrong and unsettled even though my computer looks so cool right now? and then i realized.
we are all feeling so lost….. i think we should start a support group.
my thoughts are with all of you until our update comes out
until then….. thanks for all your original and continuing work! now we can be reminded of how much you appreciate you!
October 27th, 2007 at 11:30 am
I feel lost without Chax!
I just installed Leopard and opened iChat but found myself so frustrated that I couldn’t make the chat window smaller (narrower)–since I’m on a small laptop–alas, it didn’t work. I then realized it must have been Chax that allowed me to do that. Woe is me! 
Thank you so much for all your unbelievable work to make so many of us dependents!
October 27th, 2007 at 11:33 am
So, Leopard has switching, but the keys to do so irritate the hell out of me. There’s very few programs that use the key combo they use. Please allow us to change that key combo back to the prefs set by Chax.
I agree with everyone else, although it may be an upgrade for non-Chax users, iChat 4 is certainly a downgrade for those of us who love Chax.
Thanks!
October 27th, 2007 at 11:42 am
yep. i miss chax. no auto-resizing of windows. no icon flashing in dock…. no tabs on the bottom…. sad sad sad….. i will love you if you can Leopardize chax, hell, i would pay for shareware!
no plugins are allowed on safari, unless of course u DL this:
http://mac.softpedia.com/get/Utilities/PlugSuit.shtml
maybe a plugin activator like PlugSuit for safari is what chax will need to pluginto iChat 4
good luck
October 27th, 2007 at 9:07 pm
Someone else who’s missing chax already!
October 27th, 2007 at 10:20 pm
nate!
you can change the keyboard shortcuts for switching chat tabs in the
SysPrefs>keyboard/mouse>keyboard shortcuts section
i changed mine to be command left and command right.
iChat 4 will still feel like a downgrade till Chax is leopordized
October 28th, 2007 at 12:21 am
what’s the word on leopard updates? iChat 4?! hope to see it soon!
October 28th, 2007 at 12:31 am
OMG NEED CHAX 4 LEOPARD
October 28th, 2007 at 3:56 am
InputManagers no longer load from ~/Library/InputManagers. They will load from /Library/InputManagers, but only if owned by root/admin. The Chax installer currently is broken due to this, as it installs the bundle as owned by the admin running the installer, and not root.
You can fix your Chax install with the following:
sudo -s
cp -R ~/Library/InputManagers/Chax /Library/InputManagers
chown -R root:admin /Library/InputManagers/Chax
chmod -R 0755 /Library/InputManagers/Chax
Chax loads, but is still broken for iChat 4 users.
October 28th, 2007 at 12:50 pm
All I want is to be able to remove the text status of buddies. I wish there was a terminal command to do that, if so I’d be set.
October 28th, 2007 at 1:14 pm
Can you please add an “Auto-accept Screen Sharing Inquiries” to the next version of Chax? I’m currently using Timbuktu to remote control another Mac via WAN, but the redraw speed of iChat Screen Sharing is sooo much faster.
Just like the existing “auto-acceptance of incoming files” this feature should be limited to certain groups of people. I would even go that far to ask for the admin pwd for this setting to be changed, so no one who has on-site access to your Mac, can open a future backdoor.
October 28th, 2007 at 1:20 pm
I miss my chax in leopard!!!!
October 28th, 2007 at 8:02 pm
Hi! First of all…thanx for your work with chax!
Second, when will be available a Leopard compatible version?
Actual 1.5 version is not working with my Leopard operating system!
Thank you
October 28th, 2007 at 10:50 pm
Just installed Leopard and I do not iChat 4.0 that well. Yes, there is tabbed browsing, but the tabs are on the side (VERY annoying) and switching between tabs is controlled by command + [ (or ]). I much preferred the control with command plus arrow keys. And I also liked my tabs on top with the name and a tiny icon, not the normal sized buddy icon PLUS the name to the left.
Hopefully Chax will come out with something to fix this in the new iChat, otherwise I’ll be switching back to Adium.
October 29th, 2007 at 2:27 am
i loves you! i loves chax! i loves you!!! omgwtfbbq!
October 29th, 2007 at 11:31 am
Now m leo install is complete.
the new ichat is really nice BUT i want to use it for my icq acc.
when i send a msg to an win icq user, i gives the complete html code out
that sucks
i hope you can fix this thing really really fast
thanks for your work