iChat and Chax

We find iChat to be a great communication tool for our business.

However, there a a number of changes we’d like to see made.  Fortunately, the good folks at http://ksuther.com have released Chax.

After installing Chax, re-open iChat and look in iChat’s preferences to see Chax’s settings.

Many of the features here are truly personal preference, however there are a few which we consider “must do’s”

General

• Automatically Sizing the contacts list will save space, and make for a cleaner chat window.
• Automatically reconnecting can save you hassle.

Auto Accept

• Auto Accepting text invitations one of Chax’s greatest features, as it simplifies starting new chats with people.

Notification

• Showing the icons of the message senders in the dock makes it very simple to see who and how many new messages have come in while you weren’t in iChat.

Chax also has a great Log Viewer.  Enable chat logging in the Messages preference area, then browse your saved chat with the Log Viewer which is available in the Window menu.