In Depth Review of Adium 1.0
Yesterday, Adium, a popular multi-protocol instant message client, finally hit version 1.0, and I’m very happy to say that the result of six years of hard work came out great. Wow, do I love Adium.
It’s got tons of new features, and, according to this press release, it’s got hundreds of bug fixes.
Installation
Installing Adium couldn’t be easier. Once you’ve downloaded the disk image from the Adium website, you’re treated to a beautiful graphic, courtesy of Adam Betts. This graphic explains very clearly how to install Adium.
Installation is a very simple two-step process:
- Drag the Adium icon to your applications folder.
- Eat your shoe.
Setup Assistant
A great new feature in Adium 1.0 is the setup assistant. If you’re a first time user, this will really help you get started quick.
Adding accounts from the setup assistant couldn’t be easier.
Now you’re ready to begin using Adium!
Growl
On its first launch, Adium asks you to install Growl. (Growl installation happens automatically and seamlessly if you accept.) Growl is a notification system, which means that, for example, it displays a small, unobtrusive notification whenever someone sends you a message in Adium.
This message appears, by default, in the upper-right corner of your screen.
Growl is really really useful because it allows you to know that you have a message, without being inturrupted by an alert sound.
Of course, Growl, just like Adium, is very customizable. You can customize everything from what notifications you receive, to what those notifications look like.
Growl can also send you notifications from tons of other apps, including iTunes, Mail, Safari, and Transmit (my favorite FTP app), so I highly recommend that you install it.
Xtras
Now that Adium is installed, you might want to begin customizing the look and feel of Adium. Fortunatly, the Adium makes this easy. Adium Xtras are third-party add-ons for Adium, such as dock icons, message styles, and sound sets. Xtras can be installed with one click from the Adium Xtras website. They’re downloaded and installed automatically for you, which is great.
One minor complaint that I have here is that, if you download an Xtra that has many variants, such as the different colored icons of Vectory Ducks, you have to click through lots of these windows:
etc.
Some of my personal favorite Xtras include:
The minimal_mod message style (included with Adium 1.0).
The Vectory Ducks dock icon set.
And the 8-Bit Bass sound set.
Xtras Manager
The Xtras Manager is a new feature that allows you to delete Xtras that you have installed, without digging through Application Support folders.
The Xtras Manager is nice, but I feel like a lot more could be done with this feature. For example, I’d like to be able to activate Xtras from within the Xtras Manager.
Guest Accounts
Another great new feature is that people can sign onto accounts, from your Adium, and not save any of their info after they sign off.
This is really great for when I have friends at my house who want to use AIM.
Global Personal Settings
As Adium is a multi-protocol client, many people who use it will have a lot of accounts. The new global personal settings preference pane allows you to set a buddy icon and a profile for all of your accounts at once. This is really really useful. No longer do you have to change your buddy icon twelve times to change it on all of your accounts.
Customizability
Of course, the best part of Adium is how customizable it is. You can change pretty much every part of the look of Adium, from the typefaces used to the amount of spacing on the sides of your contact list. If there’s one reason I use Adium, this it is.
Conclusion
Overall, I’d say version 1.0 is an excellent update to an already great app. It still has a few annoying bugs (such as how all my Gmail contacts are added to my Gtalk buddy list every time I sign on), and it still has a few features I want (IRC), but it also has some great new features, and overall it’s much more stable.
That, and you can’t beat the price (it’s free)!
Loshem on February 3rd, 2007 at 12:31 pm
is this a replacement for iChat? Also is this better than Chax?
Jules on February 3rd, 2007 at 1:03 pm
Does it have voice capability?
Julian Bennett Holmes on February 3rd, 2007 at 4:03 pm
Loshem: Yes, it’s a replacement for iChat, but it’s much more capable. In addition to supporting other protocols like MSN, Yahoo, and Google Talk, it also lets you customize every aspect, etc.
Jules: Unfortunately, it doesn’t have voice capability yet.
Mark 2000 on February 3rd, 2007 at 5:26 pm
All this and Trillian for Windows is still the better client. I don’t know why they don’t port it.
g2 on February 3rd, 2007 at 9:58 pm
The new “iTunes” status under the menu bar icon works with all protocols? Or it only works for, say… .Mac and AIM?
Mephux on February 4th, 2007 at 12:33 am
Personally I can’t stand Adium. It looks so ugly to me! I can never use it longer then two days before a month of abandonment. iChat is wonderful and works great!
Lordmike on February 5th, 2007 at 12:39 am
Mercury works well for me, though it’s ugly as hell.
David on February 5th, 2007 at 4:08 am
>Mark: How on earth is Trillian better than Adium? Have you tried both before posting? Geez.
starkruzr on February 5th, 2007 at 4:44 am
iChat would be lovely if it didn’t horribly break your user groups and lump everyone into the same group.
Simon on February 5th, 2007 at 8:16 am
Your complaint about Gmail contacts isn’t a problem with Adium; it’s how Google Talk works.
DasFX on February 5th, 2007 at 8:51 am
starkruzr: You can turn groups on in iChat. Under the View menu, choose “Use Groups”.
Julian Bennett Holmes on February 5th, 2007 at 2:45 pm
Simon: I’m pretty sure it’s a bug for two reasons:
1. Even if I delete them, they re-appear when I sign on. That can’t be intentional behavior, can it?
2. One of the developers of Adium told me it would be fixed in a future version.
Joe McCullough on February 6th, 2007 at 3:56 pm
Looks like the Xfire plugin works with the 1.0 version too! Now if we can get a good Skype plug in to work and video support, it’ll be the perfect app…
adreamerk on February 22nd, 2007 at 9:53 am
Question: I am a mac user and cant seem to get my gmail contacts into adium. It wont connect when I try to sign on to gmail via adium. what can i do?
peter on August 12th, 2008 at 7:32 am
I tryed adding contacts on my new mail adresse (gmail) and it didnt work, so I added the contacts in msn on a pc, and it worked.. now I went on my adium to see if the contacts I added showed up, but yet, gmail still seems to be a problem..