I've added a few hidden settings to Chax over the last couple months as people have requested minor changes, but these options don't always get added to the main preferences in Chax. Until they are added, you can enable these settings through the Terminal.

Here's a quick list of some options in Chax that aren't readily visible:

  • UseMailBadge - Use the new mail badge that Mail uses to show the number of unread messages. For those of you who really want consistency across dock icons, you can enable this. If this option is enable, flashing the dock icon doesn't work. Enable this option by typing this into the Terminal:defaults write com.ksuther.chax UseMailBadge -bool YES
  • ForceLongFormat - iChat uses a short timestamp by default, such as "9:21 PM". Enabling this will force iChat to show a longer timestamp, including date and time, such as "3/1/06, 9:18 PM". Enable this option by typing this into the Terminal:defaults write com.ksuther.chax ForceLongFormat -bool YES
  • ActiveChat.UseProxyIcons - Proxy icons providate a link from a document window to the physical file on the hard drive. By enabling this, whenever a chat is saved, a proxy icon linking to that chat will be set. Not terribly useful in most cases, but it can be done. Enable this option by typing this into the Terminal:defaults write com.ksuther.chax ActiveChat.UseProxyIcons -bool YES

Any of these options can be turned off by changing the YES to a NO when entering the command in the terminal.

Custom away-away message - A number of people have wanted be able to set a custom auto-away message, rather than being forced to set your status to plain away. You can do this with this terminal command: defaults write com.apple.iChat AutoAwayMessage "Enter your message here".

After setting any of these options, you may need to restart iChat in order for them to take effect.

A new beta may be forthcoming in the next couple of weeks and it promises to be a fairly big one.