Sunday, October 19, 2008

Yahoo Messenger for Mac woes

I'm currently using Yahoo Messenger for Mac (Version 3.0 Beta 3). I rarely use YM for anything except chat. In Windows, I used to play music on Launchcast, or occasionally share photos with friends, but even if I don't have those features in Mac, I'm happy.

I do, however, have some peeves with the Mac version. I've tried to contact Yahoo about them but haven't had much luck in getting any replies. I'll try again though.

Now these are rather superficial concerns, I'd say, but something that irritates me, especially as it's my computer and I should be able to personalize it in the way that I want right?

YM for Mac peeve #1: Changing font colors won't stick
I love colors, as it makes the chat experience more interesting. I use Color Effects with the Windows version, keeping the color in the range of blue hues. It's quite nice to look at, and I was disappointed in learning that the Mac version doesn't have it.

No worries. As long as I can change the font, I'm happy.

On the main menu of the YM, choose Preferences then Messaging. I changed my font to the color I want and... it didn't change. I logged out then logged back in (the usual solution for Windows based programs, a habit I still have hehe) and still no success.


For some reason I pressed Cmd+T and got the text box up, so I was able to change my font color. Yay!

Here's the catch:
1) Font color change isn't automatic for every person you chat with. I have to change the color every time I open up a conversation with a different person.
2) When I sign out of YM and sign back in, the previous changes I made with the fonts are gone. I have to change the color again.

None of the sites (which included Yahoo's own) I tried going to offered a solution that worked. I posted my concern on the this blog entry (scroll to the bottom) but still no success (much thanks to Karl, who replied).

YM for Mac peeve #2: Custom image disappears
I rarely use the YM Avatar. Mostly because I do like to use my own, er, creative shots. I currently use a photo I took of myself with half of my face covered with a book.

One day, I noticed that my display picture was gone. Instead, I had that generic silhouette head. So I went again to the preferences and tried to change the image. I successfully browsed and chose the picture that I want, but the image isn't there.


I keep trying to do these changes but still to no success. It really is quite frustrating. The first time it happened, I decided to stick with the Yahoo Avatar and tried to change it a few days later. Now, its happened again.

I don't know if it's happening to just me, because I haven't run across any sites where people have the same concern. I just hope it could be fixed.

5 comments:

  1. have you tried adium? it's a really cool app, and you can have all your chat clients integrated into this one app. you can also change background and font colors. :)

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  2. Hi Kat! My YM used to work fine. I've been using YM for Mac version 3 beta 2. I uninstalled it when I had problems with the fonts. It got stuck at being colored purple. I wanted to change it to blue cause I got tired of purple. For some reason, it won't change anymore.

    So I uninstalled and re-installed my YM.. same version, same beta number. But now I've got exactly the same problem as yours.. I have to change the font color with every person I chat with, and I whenever I log off and log back in, I always have to change the font settings again. As you said, IT DOESN'T SEEM TO STICK!!

    Any chance you could help me out with this?

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  3. Oh.. and I'm using Adium too.. for my Hotmail and GMail accounts. I don't want to use Adium for my Yahoo account cause I want to keep the animated smileys/emoticons and the BUZZ feature. Adium doesn't have it.. bummer.

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  4. Hi CM - I like to use YM due to the features you can find only on the client itself. The fonts are but a minor thing, but it would be nice if I could change it permanently.

    Keisha - Nope, sorry. I still haven't figured out how to fix it. I change my fonts colors everytime I log back in and for every person that I chat with. It's really a big inconvenience, and I haven't found anything that might help. It doesn't seem that the people at Yahoo are doing anything about it *sigh*

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  5. Yo Kat!

    I think I sorted it out. I've tinkered around and finally got it working. I don't have any step by step instructions cause it was only through trial and error.

    I'll try to work it again. Let you know soon..

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