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iChat lacks simple features

M

modyouup

macrumors member
Original poster
Jan 18, 2002
66
0
There's a few simple things I'd like to do in iChat. Let me know if they're possible.

Is there any way to set your buddy icon without copy and paste which would allow for animated icons? Also how can I stop all the damn icons of people from being sooooo small?! I can't see the animated form of anyone else's icon either.

Why has Apple left out such basic features?
 
I hear ya. You can just drag and drop pictures inside the little window and it will allow resizing but I am a bit disappointed that animated icons are frozen in time. Hopefully Apple will address these problems in the coming update of ichat.
 
the reason why you can't have animated icons in iChat is that unlike AIM, where the buddy icon is not visible in the buddy list and in IM's the buddy icon is in one corner all the time, a lot of people have the "Show Pictures" feature enabled. Consider the following: say that you have 10 people on your buddy list, all with animated icons, and you're in a chat with all 10 (technically this is highly unlikely). It would take a hell of a lot of processing power to display those animated icons the way they are, instead of freezing the icon, which makes it easier for the computer to display a lot of.
What would you rather have: a slow computer with lots of animated stuff that looks pretty crappy or a nice ordinary and pretty fast computer with those animated icons as static, non-animated icons?
 
How do I search for people in iChat like I do in ICQ? I dont like iChat because I dont have no friends there, all of them use ICQ...
 
Originally posted by filipp
How do I search for people in iChat like I do in ICQ? I dont like iChat because I dont have no friends there, all of them use ICQ...
Click to expand...

Well, AOL owns ICQ now so I think they will be integrating it into AOL IM and iChat soon.
 
I seriously doubt an animated icon would slow down your computers processing ability. Give me a break, if AOL's IM can display an animated gif, why the hell not ichat??

-Dual 1Ghz MDD, 2GB Ram, 240GB HD, Superdrive/Combodrive, Nvidia Geforce4Ti 4600, Apple 17" display. -Uhmm..yeah don't think this could handle animated .gifs(sarcasm if you detect it).
 
Originally posted by Gymnut
I seriously doubt an animated icon would slow down your computers processing ability. Give me a break, if AOL's IM can display an animated gif, why the hell not ichat??
Click to expand...

Well say you have 20 buddies with 20 animated gifs, it could take SOME processing power (especially on low end comps). And do you really want that much chaos on your screen constantly?

AIM only has one displayed at a time.
 
Originally posted by Vlade
Well say you have 20 buddies with 20 animated gifs, it could take SOME processing power (especially on low end comps). And do you really want that much chaos on your screen constantly?

AIM only has one displayed at a time.
Click to expand...

I haven't used iChat for ages, but... Obviously they know how to show a still frame from an animated gif. So why not display that single frame in the buddy list window, and the animated one in the conversation window? Ohhhh, but the icon gets repeated within a conversation window, in bubble mode (or whatever it's called). Well, it should be an option. What the hell is taking them so long in improving a meager chat program, anyway? :confused:
 
Why not for those slower computers, just stick a checkbox in the prefs, that allows the user to decide If they want animation on or off. I dont see why this couldnt be done....
 
Originally posted by Vlade
Well say you have 20 buddies with 20 animated gifs, it could take SOME processing power (especially on low end comps). And do you really want that much chaos on your screen constantly?

AIM only has one displayed at a time.
Click to expand...

Read the original thread. I think you misunderstand. If AOL's IM can display another persons animated icon, I'm sure ichat could do the same. And in reference to low end comps, what kind of computer are you using, an LC II? C'mon.
 
Originally posted by Gymnut
Read the original thread. I think you misunderstand. If AOL's IM can display another persons animated icon, I'm sure ichat could do the same. And in reference to low end comps, what kind of computer are you using, an LC II? C'mon.
Click to expand...

AOLs IM software displays each icon one for each window. In iChat, having animated icons would make the buddy list window very distracting.

Also, iChat already uses a lot of CPU power, why make it use more?
 
Originally posted by ibookin'
AOLs IM software displays each icon one for each window. In iChat, having animated icons would make the buddy list window very distracting.

Also, iChat already uses a lot of CPU power, why make it use more?
Click to expand...

Uhh..I meant when you are chatting with another individual, in AOL IM you are able to SEE their ANIMATED icon. How this cannot be done and why this would gobble up more cpu usage is beyond me. Jeezus. I certainly wouldn't have ichat open whilst rendering in FCP, c'mon, use common sense.
 
kinda confuseing

I find ichat rather confuseing, well not confuseing but a pain, she lots of people use my computer and its kind of a pain to sign on with different accounts and it allways wants to save ur password and stuff. also the profile feature is really confuseing. those 2 reasons alone are why i dont use it. plus to tabs....why cant they just use
enter screen name here:
Enter password here:
rather than make it a popup window or in the prefs and what not...
 
Originally posted by Gymnut
Uhh..I meant when you are chatting with another individual, in AOL IM you are able to SEE their ANIMATED icon. How this cannot be done and why this would gobble up more cpu usage is beyond me. Jeezus. I certainly wouldn't have ichat open whilst rendering in FCP, c'mon, use common sense.
Click to expand...

I believe what people were saying that is in an im in aim the animated icon is displayed once in the top bar of the im. In ichat it is displayed next to the dialogue of the person you are chatting with everytime they write something for you, so you would have as many animated icons as there are messages from who you are talking to , and yes, that could start to drag.
 
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