Heyla, John;/join #macintosh . Note that when I messaged my password to X,
I did not use the normal 'msg' command. This demonstrates one of
ShadowIRC's subtle-yet-useful security features. msgq is not shown on the
screen, and a double-slash before any command keeps it out of the input
line buffer.
With your basic preferences set, it's time to sign on! First, so
you don't have to enter all of that each time you use ShadowIRC, select
Save Preferences from the File menu. Now, choose Open Connection from the
File menu, and select the name of the Connection Preferences that you
filled out to open. That's it! And as for a channel to join....why not
consider #macintosh?
Teach Me How To Be A Power User, Please
You can use IRC. You've been using IRC for years. What can
ShadowIRC offer you? A lot. The most powerful feature of ShadowIRC isn't
really even part of the program. ShadowIRC has an amazingly powerful plugin
architecture, allowing someone with a knowledge of C to do whatever they
want to the client. This can include plugins that act like the scripting
packages other clients offer (such as PurePak for Un*x's IRCii) to
userlists to colors. The possibilities are endless. You can find links to
many plugins at ShadowIRC's homepage,
<http://glue.umd.edu/~dshadow/shadowirc>. To load plugins, place them in
the Plugins folder inside your ShadowIRC folder, and then launch the client.
Not all ease-of-use requires programming talent. Instead of typing
/whois, you can just type /wh for the result. This also applies to /ww, for
/whowas. Shortcuts offer more simple macros, or key-combos that call more
information. Passwords, or URLs that you often hand out can be stored in
these. From the Shortcuts menu, select Edit Shortcuts. Fill in the fields
with the information you want, and then click on Done. Again, to store the
information for good, choose Save Preferences from the File menu. The data
you stored can be accessed by hitting command and the number of the field you entered the
information in. Forget which one it's in? Click on the Shortcuts menu and
it will be right next to the number you have to press. Shortcuts are more
powerful than they first appear. To learn more, look at the Shortcuts
section of the Command Index.
See the letters to the left of the channel topic in the lower bar
of channel windows? These allow swift change of channel modes. Clicking on
lower-case ones activate the modes, and clicking on capital letters
deactivates the modes. Of course, to do this you have to be an operator in
the channel.
The input line holds three treasures, time-saving pop-up menus.
Click-holding on your nickname, which is in bold, lets you switch between
recent nicks. You can also choose Clear List, to get rid of all the nicks
you've been using. Click-holding on the channel name, which is also in
bold, lets you flit between active windows without hardly moving the mouse.
Under Recent Channels you can find all the channels you've joined lately.
Want to know exactly how much memory ShadowIRC has free? Clicking on the
memory indicator on the far right of the input window switches it between
showing kilobytes, and the bytes free.
The Commands menu also offers some time-savers. Users of some other
IRC clients might be familiar with the Commands menu, but ShadowIRC greatly
expands on its capabilities. By choosing one of the often used commands
from the menu, they appear in your input window, saving time. Furthermore,
they customize for what window you are in. So command-t will not only put
/topic in the input window, but the channel name too (/topic #channel). Even better, just click the topic at the bottom of the channel window, for an easy-to-edit dialog box.
Think someone mentioned your favorite band a few minutes ago while
you weren't paying attention? The Edit menu holds a Find function. Just
enter the text, and ShadowIRC will home in on it. Even better, you can log
a channel. First, in the Log Preferences, select afolder to save logs to.
Then, in the channel, control-click and choose Start Logging from the
contextual menu. ShadowIRC's use of this new Apple Innovation don't stop
there, either! Take a look at that contextual menu--you might see a few
other time-savers too! Note: OS-level contextual menu support is NOT
required: contextual menus work on any PowerPC machine.
ShadowIRC now supports multiple connections (and John can hear
those sighs of relief....). Just fill out the preferences for each
Connection in the Connection Preferences, and give it a distinctive name,
so you remember which is which. To open a Connection, either choose it from
the Open Connection command in the File menu, or control-click and choose
it from the contextual menu. This works the same way to disconnect.
Commands will affect whichever server's channels are currently active. To
switch Connections in the console, click and hold on the bar at the bottom
of the window.
Veteran MacOS IRCers will remember Homer, an older client with a
great GUI that hasn't been updated in years. One of its few useful features
was cursor-focusing, now available ShadowIRC. With cursor-focusing
turned on in the Preferences, whatever channel the mouse cursor is over
becomes active.
For security, ShadowIRC has two fore-mentioned features. By placing
two slashes in front of any command, it isn't saved in the input buffer.
This means if someone uses the arrow keys to scroll through recent entries
on the input line, those commands won't be there. Two commands, msgq and
noticeq, do not display on the screen. This means that if you send your
password to a bot, and someone walks by, your password won't be on the
screen in front of you.
ShadowIRC is extremely configurable. Explore! The Preferences alone
hold a lot of extras to be found (like the ability to turn colors and
stylized text off). Some users, though, will want colors turned *on*. There
are two choices: you can use Ircle-style colors, or mIRC-style colors.
Unfortunately, it is impossible to display both at the same time--but you can decide which to use for each window. Other little things, like the key-combos for various functions, benefit from exploration.
Look around. It's likely you'll find something worthwhile. And if what you
want isn't there, just email John--or write the plugin!
Can I Write Plugins Too?
Yes! To write plugins, though, you will need to know C, have a
compiler (such as Metrowerk's excellent CodeWarrior), and get the SDK. This
holds the info needed to start coding your plugin. You can get it from the
For more help, join the ShadowIRC developer mailing list. To
subscribe to the list, send email to majordomo@home.amug.org containing
'subscribe shadowirc-development'. Also, check out #macdev on Undernet.
Good luck...and remember: if C isn't up your alley, you can always beg a
friend! <g>
Okay, Where Can I Go For More Info?
Well, be sure to check out the ShadowIRC homepage,
<http://www.glue.umd.edu/~dshadow/shadowirc> , every once in awhile for
updates and news. A list of plugins can also be found there. For updates on
new betas, consider joining the ShadowIRC announcement mailing list by
sending an email to majordomo@home.amug.org containing 'subscribe
shadowirc-announce'. Note: this mailing list is moderated, and it is only
for announcements of updates.
You can also check out #macintosh on Undernet. A lot of regulars
there use ShadowIRC, plus you might be lucky enough to catch John Bafford
himself. John's been really busy lately, so as a kindness, please direct
questions to either the channel, or to me, the humble manual writer,
Jonathon Rubin (Korendil on #macintosh on Undernet) (korendil@shorecrest.org).
ShadowIRC is great! Is it shareware or something?
Yeah, or something. ShadowIRC is $10 shareware. John Bafford wrote ShadowIRC because he wanted another choice in IRC clients for MacOS. He works hard, he deserved credit. How can you show that you appreciate his work? Pay him. ShadowIRC is shareware, not freeware. There aren't any penalties for not paying, except that without any impetus to continue, John can't commit as much time as he'd like to making ShadowIRC even better. Shop around. Check out other clients. None of the others are going to be so inexpensive while offering so many great features and so much expandability.
A lot of people don't pay for shareware. That doesn't mean you
shouldn't. Shareware is extremely important on the Internet, and paying for
ShadowIRC gives John and other developers reason to continue writing great
applications to extend the possibilities of the Internet, and the MacOS.
