Gtk+Licq | ||
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This section will explain how to use Gtk+Licq based on the default settings. You can make Gtk+Licq behave differently, if you so desire, but this covers the basics(more about that in the Customization section).
If this your first time using Licq then you must register an icq-user. This is done with the registration wizard which should appear on the screen automatically. Once it is finished, you simply add your friends to your contact list.
The main window allows you to send or receive messages from specific users on your contact list. Left-clicking on a name in the contact list will produce a drop-down menu which allows you to perform tasks related to that user. The most common of these is to send or receive a basic message, or receive a message that has been sent to you. To send a message you select the kind of message you like to send via the 'Send' submenu. To read a incoming message you simply select the 'View Event' menu item. You can also send or receive messages by double-clicking on that user. Which window appears will depend on whether or not there are incoming unread messages from that user. If you have a unread message from that user, the view window will appear.
Incoming messages are indicated by a message, url, file, chat or contact list icon. The message statusbar will also tell you how many new messages you have, and will inform you about system messages. A shortcut to read incoming messages is to double-click on the message statusbar icon.
For the users that don't like to use the mouse to select users, there is a quick search feature. Simply type the beginning of the alias and that user will be selected. When you press Return or Enter the send or view window for that user will popup (once again, depending on whether there are queued messages). To see what user is selected I suggest you enable the 'Select active user' in the Contactlist options. If you make a typo, you can press Escape to cancel what you have typed and start over.
Another important thing you do in the main window is set your status. This is done by left-clicking on the statusbar (that shows your current status) and selecting the desired status. Various choices will bring up an autoresponse window where you can set a message that is automatically sent out to users who send you messages while you are away. This window has a few default messages, all of which may be altered to in the Status options. A shortcut here is to double-click on the statusbar, this will automatically set you in your previous status.
The gnome panel applet shows a status icon as well as the number of unread messages you have in your queue (if the size allow it). If you left click on the applet you get a menu from which you can change status, show/hide the main window, and some other nice stuff. If you have unread messages, the status icon will show the message icon for the first unread message you have, which you can double click on to view. When you don't have any unread messages the status icon will show your current status, and double-clicking on it will show/hide the main window.
When you start Gtk+Licq for the fist time, the registration wizard should appear automatically. The first page will display a welcome message and simple instructions on how to use the wizard. Please read them - it saves us headaches. The second page handles the actual registration process. Here you have a choice to make register a new user or configure an existing user.
To register a new user you just enter a password, then enter it again in the Verify field just to be sure you have typed the intended password.
To register a existing user, select the appropriate checkbox, then you fill in the UIN and password (password verification unnecessary).
On the third page you are presented with the option of changing your request, or finishing. Click on finish to complete the wizard. If you decided to create a new account, you should write down your username and password somewhere that is moderately safe (ie. not on your arm). If something goes wrong later on, you'll need your account information. Once you're past the initial registration, you should really update your personal info so that other peopld can find you more easily.
This section briefly covers the management of users in your contact list.
There are many ways to add a user. You may select 'Add user' in the 'User functions' submenu if you know the user's UIN, but the preferred way is to search for the user by selecting 'Search for user' function in the User functions submenu. Other persons may also send you contacts from their contact list for you to add. That is discussed in more detail in the receiving contacts section.
To remove a user from your contact list, you left-click on the user, then you choose Remove user and From Contactlist. If your current group is 'All users', the 'From Current Group' choice will remove the user from the contact list too.
User searches are fairly easy. First you select the method you want to use to perform the search. In other words, if you know the user's UIN or email, you fill in the appropriate field and press Finish. If you don't have very specfic information, you can select the whitepages search and press Next (you then fill in the information you know and press Finish to see a list of possible matches).
When the search is complete, you select the users you are interested in and press the 'Add user' button to add the user(s) to your contact list. If the user you are looking for isn't on the list, you may have gotten to many matches based on your search criteria. If this is the case, you must be more specific. To try again, just to press 'Back'.
You may get authorization requests from users if you have 'Authorization required' enabled in the Security section of the Options dialog. To authorize a user, press the 'Authorize user' button in the window where you read the request. Alternatively, you can left click on the user and send an authorization that way. The third way to do this is to select Authorize user in the User functions submenu and fill in the user's UIN.
The send window allows you to send different messages to people on your contact list. There are several types of messages, but the most commonly used is the plaintext message. Also frequently used is the Netscape message, which can be used to send a web URL to someone.
When a send widow is opened the message type will be set to the normal (plaintext) message type. For plaintext messages, all you need to do is fill in some text and press send.
To send a URL, you select the URL message type, fill in a message (optional), and then enter the url in the text field marked URL. Then you simply press send and the message will be on its way.
You can also send a URL by draging it from Netscape (or any other browser that supports drag and drop) and drop it on the recipient in the contact list window. The send window will then open with the url type selected, and the url field will contain the url. The only thing you need to do is write a description (optional) and press send.
To send a chat request, you select the chat message type and enter a message stating the reason or topic for the chat session, then press send. This time the window will not disappear as it normally would; it will disappear when the recipient accepts or denies your request. If the recipient accepts the request, a chat window will appear. Otherwise, a refusal notification will appear.
If you already have a chat session running, you can still start a new chat with someone else. The only difference in this case is that if you already have a chat session running, you may wish to invite this recipient to join your existing chat session by selecting the 'Current Chat Session,' or you may establish a new chat session by selecting 'New Session.'
More about the chat in the chat section.
To send a file to someone, you select the 'file' message type, then you fill in a file description and write the filename in the text entry marked 'Filename.' If you don't know the exact name or location of the file, you can use the file browser to find it by selecting the browse button. Once those fields are filled in you press send, and a request is sent to the recipient.
As with chat sessions, the recipient can refuse a file, and as before you will get a dialog informing you why the person chose to do so.
More about file transfer in the file transfer section.
To send contacts from you contact list to a friend, you select the 'contact' message type - a view with two lists will come up. in the right list you have all of the contacts in your list. The left list, which is initially empty, is where you place contacts that you wish to send.
To move a contact to the send list you use the buttons between the lists.
When you open the receive dialog, you get a split window consisting of new messages in the top window and message contents in the lower window. When the window opens the first unread message is selected and shown. To read another message you simply click on its header in the top window.
Receiving messages is fairly straightforward. Chances are, if you're reading this, then you're not going to have any problems with this ;)
You can reply to a plaintext message by using either the 'Reply' or the 'Quote reply' button. Both of these start a reply message to the sender of the original message. The difference between 'Reply' and 'Quote reply' is that 'Quote reply' will include the original message in your reply message. Each line of the original message will be prefixed with '>'. Quoting is useful when sending messages to people who are offline, because it tells them what you're replying to. This type of messaging is occasionally called 'pseudo-chat'.
Receiving urls is also quite easy too. The message will be displayed in the message box and the url is shown in the text entry marked 'URL'. To open the url you press the 'view url' button.
You can change the program that's used to display URLs in the message options.
The reply buttons will work the same way as they do with regular messages.
When you receive a chat request, there should be a message explaining the reason for the chat (sometimes the message field will be blank). If you wish to accept the chat request, you simply select the 'Accept' button, and a chat window will appear.
If you don't want to chat with the person for some reason, you press the 'Refuse' button, then you write the reason for your refusal in the window that pops up. When that's done you press 'refuse'.
More about chat in the chat section.
When you receive a file transfer request, the window will haveinformation about the file(s) in the description field. To accept the file transfer you fill in the directory into which you wish to save the files (the default is your home directory), and then select 'accept'. The file transfer will then start.
More about file transfers in the file transfer section.
When receiving contacts, a window will appear with a list of contacts, any or all of which you may add to your own contact list by selecting the contact and pressing 'add user'.
You can find information about users in your contact list by left-clicking on a user and selecting the information category from the Info submenu. You can also edit/view your own information by selecting one of the info menu entries in the
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