cocoaforge

I am using adium 0.77, and i cannot figure out how to display aliases in my buddy list instead of screennames. The aliases are used in the dicsussion window, so i know i entered them OK.

I'm not sure exactly (I don't remember), but try looking on the View menu, if not the Contact List prefs. If those two don't work, it could be in the Advanced pane of the prefs.

View > Contact Name Format > Alias

All right I have to pick this nit as they say.

Yes, even in 0.8 beta it's still View->Contact Name Format

But:

In preferences, (this is b13 by the way), you can, for Messages, change the order in the Advanced->Messages, under "Use custom name format".

HOWEVER...you cannot do the same if you go to Preferences->Advanced->Contact List - why are these two identical preferences separated so completely in the GUI? I hunted around in preferences forever trying to find the matching Contact List preference but of course, it's not there - it's in the View menu. So now that I've wasted my time, I am cranky.

Can we get these both together in one place, purty pleeze? Like, add the same "custom name format" option to Preferences->Advanced->Contact List as exists in Preferences->Advanced->Messages?

No doubt more lost people will ask this question in the future because they assume that such similar settings will live nearby.

The one in the view menu affects display everywhere in Adium. Contact list, messages, etc. You can then override it via the advanced messages preferences to set something different just for message windows.