Starting iChat in a minimized state?
July 1, 2007 11:13 PM Subscribe
How can I get iChat to start up in a minimized state?
Is there any way to get iChat to start minimized, without having the main buddy list visible? I work at a video editing facility where nobody except myself is well-versed and comfortable with using instant messaging. Since we dont have a receptionist who can answer our phonecalls and take down messages for everyone, we need a simple and easy way for everyone else to know who is available for calls, and who is not (we work in client supervised creative sessions, so taking phonecalls is a significant mental de-railer). And for those who are not, I'd like to be able to simply send an IM to their workstation, telling them who called, etc.etc.
We have a large facility, so always getting up, walking down the hall and sticking a post-it-note on the person's door is a real pain.
But since that's pretty much the only reason why the others would need to have an IM client running, I foresee them complaining how the iChat window automatically pops up every morning when they start up their computers. I'd like them to have a much more transparent experience, where they only see the iChat interface when I send them a message, and vice versa. The way iChat supports the OSX menubar is nice, and it would be even nicer if it could just start "hidden", with the icon in the menubar available when you need it. Clicking the "hidden" checkbox for iChat in the User Account Startup Items control panel does NOT work to hide it when it starts up upon login.
The only reason why I'm using iChat is because it seems to have the most rock solid Bonjour messaging capability. Adium--my IM client of choice--does not work reliably with Bonjour clients. If anyone has a better non-iChat suggestion that works reliably using Bonjour, I'm all ears.
Oh, and please don't suggest that we set up an Asterisk system. That's a topic for another FPP :)
Is there any way to get iChat to start minimized, without having the main buddy list visible? I work at a video editing facility where nobody except myself is well-versed and comfortable with using instant messaging. Since we dont have a receptionist who can answer our phonecalls and take down messages for everyone, we need a simple and easy way for everyone else to know who is available for calls, and who is not (we work in client supervised creative sessions, so taking phonecalls is a significant mental de-railer). And for those who are not, I'd like to be able to simply send an IM to their workstation, telling them who called, etc.etc.
We have a large facility, so always getting up, walking down the hall and sticking a post-it-note on the person's door is a real pain.
But since that's pretty much the only reason why the others would need to have an IM client running, I foresee them complaining how the iChat window automatically pops up every morning when they start up their computers. I'd like them to have a much more transparent experience, where they only see the iChat interface when I send them a message, and vice versa. The way iChat supports the OSX menubar is nice, and it would be even nicer if it could just start "hidden", with the icon in the menubar available when you need it. Clicking the "hidden" checkbox for iChat in the User Account Startup Items control panel does NOT work to hide it when it starts up upon login.
The only reason why I'm using iChat is because it seems to have the most rock solid Bonjour messaging capability. Adium--my IM client of choice--does not work reliably with Bonjour clients. If anyone has a better non-iChat suggestion that works reliably using Bonjour, I'm all ears.
Oh, and please don't suggest that we set up an Asterisk system. That's a topic for another FPP :)
Install Chax. It has an option to "hide open windows when iChat is inactive." Should be close enough, I'd think.
posted by kindall at 12:00 AM on July 2, 2007
posted by kindall at 12:00 AM on July 2, 2007
Response by poster: cdmwebs:
As i mentioned in my post, Adium is unreliable with Bonjour, so I don't want to use that.
kindall:
Ahh...I've always known about Chax, but never thought it did that! That definitely sounds promising.
posted by melorama at 12:05 AM on July 2, 2007
As i mentioned in my post, Adium is unreliable with Bonjour, so I don't want to use that.
kindall:
Ahh...I've always known about Chax, but never thought it did that! That definitely sounds promising.
posted by melorama at 12:05 AM on July 2, 2007
Response by poster: Hmm...i just tried it, and Chax doesn't really do what I'm looking for.
The search continues...
posted by melorama at 12:08 AM on July 2, 2007
The search continues...
posted by melorama at 12:08 AM on July 2, 2007
@melorama
What about combining the auto-hiding functionality of Chax with opening iChat automatically on login (with the "hide" option checked)?
System Preferences > Accounts > Login Items
Maybe even without Chax this would have you covered?
posted by braintoast at 12:14 AM on July 2, 2007
What about combining the auto-hiding functionality of Chax with opening iChat automatically on login (with the "hide" option checked)?
System Preferences > Accounts > Login Items
Maybe even without Chax this would have you covered?
posted by braintoast at 12:14 AM on July 2, 2007
yeah...seconding what floam said. Even if you haven't poked AppleScript much, it's not all that difficult to do something like this.
posted by braintoast at 12:28 AM on July 2, 2007
posted by braintoast at 12:28 AM on July 2, 2007
In addition to Proteus, have you looked into Fire?
posted by Blazecock Pileon at 12:48 AM on July 2, 2007
posted by Blazecock Pileon at 12:48 AM on July 2, 2007
Response by poster: B.P.:
Do these clients have specific preferences to minimize on startup?
I'm not looking for general recommendations for alternative OSX chat clients. I'm perfectly happy with Adium. What I'm looking for are specific recommendations for Bonjour compatible clients that actually explicitly minimize on startup.
The Applescript solution is one I had never thought of, though. I'm definitely not an Applescript coder, but ironically enough, I found myself up late last night hacking my own Applescripts for sending mail notifications to Growl...so I'm sure (or hope, at least) it will be a breeze to do what I want using Applescript.
posted by melorama at 1:01 AM on July 2, 2007
Do these clients have specific preferences to minimize on startup?
I'm not looking for general recommendations for alternative OSX chat clients. I'm perfectly happy with Adium. What I'm looking for are specific recommendations for Bonjour compatible clients that actually explicitly minimize on startup.
The Applescript solution is one I had never thought of, though. I'm definitely not an Applescript coder, but ironically enough, I found myself up late last night hacking my own Applescripts for sending mail notifications to Growl...so I'm sure (or hope, at least) it will be a breeze to do what I want using Applescript.
posted by melorama at 1:01 AM on July 2, 2007
Best answer: -- Open Adium & Mail
-- ========
--
-- April 2007 by dance, created from hacked together bits of code from all over the shop!
--
-- Checks to see if Adium and Mail are open and if they aren't, starts them and then hides them.
--
-- If Mail & Adium are open, script takes no action.
tell application "System Events" to (name of processes) contains "Adium"
if the result is false then
activate application "Adium"
tell application "System Events"
set visible of process "Adium" to false
end tell
end if
tell application "System Events" to (name of processes) contains "Mail"
if the result is false then
activate application "Mail"
tell application "System Events"
set visible of process "Mail" to false
end tell
end if [the OP would replace 'adium' with 'ichat']
posted by dance at 1:02 AM on July 2, 2007 [1 favorite]
-- ========
--
-- April 2007 by dance, created from hacked together bits of code from all over the shop!
--
-- Checks to see if Adium and Mail are open and if they aren't, starts them and then hides them.
--
-- If Mail & Adium are open, script takes no action.
tell application "System Events" to (name of processes) contains "Adium"
if the result is false then
activate application "Adium"
tell application "System Events"
set visible of process "Adium" to false
end tell
end if
tell application "System Events" to (name of processes) contains "Mail"
if the result is false then
activate application "Mail"
tell application "System Events"
set visible of process "Mail" to false
end tell
end if [the OP would replace 'adium' with 'ichat']
posted by dance at 1:02 AM on July 2, 2007 [1 favorite]
Response by poster: effin' brilliant, dance. That works perfectly!
Thanks!
posted by melorama at 2:06 AM on July 2, 2007
Thanks!
posted by melorama at 2:06 AM on July 2, 2007
Or, under System Preferences > Accounts, have iChat load on login and check the hide checkbox.
posted by pedantic at 8:21 AM on July 2, 2007
posted by pedantic at 8:21 AM on July 2, 2007
That method frequently doesn't work, unfortunately :-S
Let's hope it's addressed in Leopard.
posted by dance at 8:48 AM on July 2, 2007
Let's hope it's addressed in Leopard.
posted by dance at 8:48 AM on July 2, 2007
Response by poster: Or, read my original post and see that I already addressed the "hide checkbox" issue :)
posted by melorama at 12:34 PM on July 2, 2007
posted by melorama at 12:34 PM on July 2, 2007
Do these clients have specific preferences to minimize on startup?
I don't know, but doing some research on suggested alternative clients may help you find a solution.
posted by Blazecock Pileon at 6:19 AM on July 3, 2007
I don't know, but doing some research on suggested alternative clients may help you find a solution.
posted by Blazecock Pileon at 6:19 AM on July 3, 2007
Oh and melorama, won't GrowlMail do what you want for sending mail notifications to growl, or did you have a need for a fancy dan solution? ;-)
posted by dance at 5:32 AM on July 4, 2007
posted by dance at 5:32 AM on July 4, 2007
Response by poster: dance:
I already use GrowlMail for on-priority mail, but it doesn't have enough granularity for what I want. Namely, when I get a message from any of my clients, I want the Growl notification for only that message(s) to be sticky, because I often have my laptop next to me at my main workstation, so the standard GrowlMail notifications aren't within eyeshot when I'm lookoing at my workstation monitors (and I *don't* want to use network growl notifications from my laptop to my workstation)
posted by melorama at 11:53 AM on July 5, 2007
I already use GrowlMail for on-priority mail, but it doesn't have enough granularity for what I want. Namely, when I get a message from any of my clients, I want the Growl notification for only that message(s) to be sticky, because I often have my laptop next to me at my main workstation, so the standard GrowlMail notifications aren't within eyeshot when I'm lookoing at my workstation monitors (and I *don't* want to use network growl notifications from my laptop to my workstation)
posted by melorama at 11:53 AM on July 5, 2007
melorama: Theres is an article that might help you available here.
posted by mosch at 12:41 PM on August 17, 2007
posted by mosch at 12:41 PM on August 17, 2007
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by Blazecock Pileon at 11:24 PM on July 1, 2007