Any way to get single message mode (rather than chat mode)?

[squirrellypoo]

Hi. I've looked through all the FAQs, searched the forums, and asked a few friends but still haven't found an answer...

Is there a way to enable "Message Mode" as opposed to the current "Chat style" of messages, like maybe through a plugin? Miranda IM for Windows supports this excellently (as do Trillian and the original ICQ clients), but I've yet to find any Mac client that supports it, and I very much want to love Adium, but not having this feature keeps me from using it.

Basically, Message Mode sends IMs like SMS messages - you type your message to the person, hit send, and the window disappears. When they reply, you see it as another small window, which you can either Close, or Reply (closing their window, and bringing up a new small window for your message).

This is excellent for short messages where you don't want to get into a long, drawn-out chat, and it's something I absolutely cannot live without in an IM client.

Is there a way to get this functionality in Adium? I don't care if it disables "chat mode" forever or if it involves a bit of tinkering, I'm willing to get my hands dirty...

thanks very much for any advice!

[Son of a Preacher Man]

How about, closing the chat window after you send the message?

[squirrellypoo]

How about, closing the chat window after you send the message?

I want this to be automatic. I also don't want a running history every time I view or send a message...

[phlops]

I also don't want a running history every time I view or send a message...

You can turn that off in the Message History section of the Advanced Prefs.

[squirrellypoo]

You can turn that off in the Message History section of the Advanced Prefs.

thanks, I wasn't aware of this! Is there any way to get the window to close automatically when I hit Send?

Edit: I've installed the newest version now and I want so much to love it but loads of things are really aggravating me, I'm sorry... I just want the bare minimum features in an IM client, and I can't seem to turn off a bunch of adium's "features", like:
1. I don't want incoming messages to automatically pop up (I want them to display when I tell them to)
2. I don't want to see that another user is typing, ever.
3. I don't want to see the chat window after I read a message
4. I don't want to see the chat window after I send a message
5. I'm finding the status icons to be a bit vague - is there a way to use the ICQ-style icons instead? It looks like smilies and dock icons can be customised, but not status icons?
(Miranda IM on Windows does all of the above in about two clicks, I'm not understanding why it's so difficult here...)

I apologise for all these newbie-esque questions, but right now I'm really not enjoying this program, and I'd very much like to.

[dbomb]

It might not be what you want, but you could use Quicksilver with Growl.
The Adium plugin has not been updated for the tiger version, so if your on tiger, you'll have to wait. But just send the messages with quicksilver, and have growl display a bubble for every message.
You'll still have the message window, but just set it to hide when adium is in the background.

Quicksilver: http://quicksilver.blacktree.com/

[port80]

Edit: I've installed the newest version now and I want so much to love it but loads of things are really aggravating me, I'm sorry... I just want the bare minimum features in an IM client, and I can't seem to turn off a bunch of adium's "features", like:
1. I don't want incoming messages to automatically pop up (I want them to display when I tell them to)

The best approximation I know of to this in Adium would be to go into the Advanced pane of the preference dialogs, select the messages section, and tell Adium to place message windows below all other windows. It's not an exact fit, but it might be closer to the behavior your want.

2. I don't want to see that another user is typing, ever.

Your best bet is to open up a status icon pack and change the typing icons to match the active icons. The default status icon pack is located inside the Adium application (Right/control click and select "Show Package Contents") in Contents/Resources/StatusIcons. Make a copy to your desktop, rename it (you will probably also need to edit the package name in the Info.plist file inside the package), and replace the typing icons with the active icons. Double click on the modified package, and it will install as a new status icon style in Adium.

3. I don't want to see the chat window after I read a message

No idea on how to solve this one, I'm afraid. You could get halfway there with sticky Growl notifications (they disappear after you click on them) and message windows below all other windows, but it's only a partial solution.

4. I don't want to see the chat window after I send a message

No real good idea on this one, either. You could try creating an Applescript for Adium which would close the chat whenever a specific string was sent (eg "\over"), but that would probably be more trouble than it would be worth.

5. I'm finding the status icons to be a bit vague - is there a way to use the ICQ-style icons instead? It looks like smilies and dock icons can be customised, but not status icons?

Status icons can be customized - either manually by customizing the icon packs (see previous answers for a hint in this direction) or by downloading new precreated icon packs. There is no section on the extras site now for icon packs (I assume there will be before too long), but they are bundled with many recent contact list styles.

I apologise for all these newbie-esque questions, but right now I'm really not enjoying this program, and I'd very much like to.

Well, we'll do the best we can to help you out. Be advised, however, that I've been lurking around these forums for a while, and I haven't seen many of the features you're describing requested by other users. ("Message mode" and related issues in particular - I haven't seen those implemented in any Macintosh IM client that I've seen. This is the first I've heard of the concept.) However, if you make a good case for their inclusion, and they look doable to the developers, they might be released in a future version.

Just recall that this is a volunteer project - the developers will include it if they think it's a good idea. (Or maybe if you contribute a patch yourself.)

Please enjoy Adium - I hope you can work out how to tweak it to be more to your liking!

[squirrellypoo]

Well, we'll do the best we can to help you out. Be advised, however, that I've been lurking around these forums for a while, and I haven't seen many of the features you're describing requested by other users. ("Message mode" and related issues in particular - I haven't seen those implemented in any Macintosh IM client that I've seen. This is the first I've heard of the concept.) However, if you make a good case for their inclusion, and they look doable to the developers, they might be released in a future version.

thank you so much for all your suggestions, I'm going to go through these over the weekend and see how they fit.

The reason I asked all these questions about these issues is that I couldn't find them on any Mac IM client, either, yet they're really prevalent on Windows ones. This is the first case in the Mac/Windows divide where I haven't found a program equivalent on the Mac side (but hopefully your suggestion will solve that!).

Just recall that this is a volunteer project - the developers will include it if they think it's a good idea. (Or maybe if you contribute a patch yourself.)
thanbk
Please enjoy Adium - I hope you can work out how to tweak it to be more to your liking!

thanks, I hope I can get it to my liking, too! And believe me, if I can't, I'm very close to bringing out the Obj-C/Cocoa books and getting my hands dirty myself...