Gus What?!

I have a new plug-in ready for testing. This one is extremely simple. AIM 6.1 gives you the option to let your linked accounts sign-on as invisible, but your primary account is always signed on as visible. This plug-in simply signs your primary and linked accounts on as invisible every time. Once online, you can toggle your invisibility state by clicking on the eyeball.

You can read more about the plug-in and download it here.

I have more “tweaks” in the works. Let me know if you have any tweak ideas that you would like to see.

The credit for this goes to Osman. Here is what it looks like with the theme picker menu open:

You can enable this theme by following these simple steps:

1. Install AIM 6.1.
2. Open the blGadgets.box file from C:\Program Files\AIM6\services\imApp\ver6_1_32_1\content\bl in notepad or any text editor.
3. Search for “black” (at about line #580).
4. Remove the collapsed=”true” part.

You can also enable a cool “twisty” transition that is shown when you switch themes by following these steps:

1. Open the bl.js file from the same folder above in notepad or any text editor.
2. Search for “g_bNoSkinTransitions” (at about line #39)
3. Replace true with false so that the line looks like this: var g_bNoSkinTransitions = false;

Enjoy.

AOL released AIM 6.1 today. This version is the first public update of AIM 6.0 since it was released back on November 15th of last year. While this may be a “point-release”, AIM 6.1 still includes a lot of functionality that AIM users have requested like, Buddy List docking, customizable Buddy List fonts, sorting of buddies in groups, window color schemes, and more.

A lot of excellent work has gone into this release and I highly recommended you upgrade to it. You can download the net installer here and the full installer is available here.

Be sure to check out the official aim.com web site for more information.

I want to thank all the beta testers out there that helped us test out this release; your support is truly appreciated.

Thank you and enjoy.

I actually installed the AIM 6.1 Beta 3 build at home and will be using it as my AIM client from now on. This build comes with a heap of bug fixes and more. Full screen video support has been added. The RX-Plugin and CoreWitness plug-ins work excellently. All features are fully functional. The same goes for my IM Control Panel.

You can download the net installer for this beta here or get the full installer here.

Please give it a try and tell us what you think.

I know, I know, this beta, actually beta two in the AIM 6.1 series if you are paying close attention, was released yesterday and this post is one day behind. In any case, this is a HUGE beta release. A lot of great work from many teams has gone into it. So, what’s in this release? You might ask.

Here is my list of what’s new, just to name a few:

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Continuing on with this series of posts on AIM URLs, I now introduce a tool to help you create “Go Chat” URLs which are used to enter or start a chat room. You can specify up to two parameters: the room’s name and exchange number. The room’s name can be almost anything you want and the exchange is either 4 or 5 and can be omitted which would then default it to 4.

You can use the Go Chat URL Generator tool to help you create these kinds of URLs. Just follow the instructions on the page and then paste the HTML or URL in a web page, e-mail, IM, or desktop shortcut. Here is a sample link I created with this tool: Go Chat Link.

RX-PLUGIN USERS: You can generate a Go Chat link in a conversation with a buddy by typing “chat(roomname)” where roomname is the chat room name you want the buddy to join. Give it a try.

The “Go IM” (aka “IM This”) URL is used to start a conversation with a buddy in AIM. You can specify up to three optional parameters: from, to, and message. The from and to parameters are screen names and the message parameter can be anything you want in plain text or HTML depending on how you encode it.

As in my previous post, I created a Go IM URL Generator tool to help you create these kinds of URLs. Just follow the instructions on the page and then paste the HTML or URL in a web page, e-mail, IM, or desktop shortcut. Here is a sample link I created with this tool: Go IM Link.

RX-PLUGIN USERS: You can generate a Go IM link in a conversation with a buddy by typing “im(name)” where name is the screen name of the buddy to be contacted. Give it a try. See here for more details on this rule.

Justin Uberti talked about aim: URLs a few years ago in his posts here and here. I thought I would update this with respect to what is supported by AIM 6.0 and take it one step further by providing a tool to make it even easier to create these URLs.

I will start this series with a web-based tool to create “Add Buddy” links. Add Buddy links, as the name implies, are used to add a buddy to the Buddy List. You can access the AIM 6.0 Add Buddy URL Generator here.

Just follow the instructions on the page and then paste the HTML or URL in a web page, e-mail, or IM. Here is a sample I created with this tool: Add ‘Gus Verdun’ and ‘Gus Blog’ to your Buddy List

RX-PLUGIN USERS: You can send an automatically generated Add Buddy link to your buddy by sending “addme” in an IM. Give it a try. This also works in chat rooms.

How do I load, save, import, or export my buddy list in AIM 6.0?

I posted on this before, here, but this one deserves its own post due to the volume of requests. AIM 6.0 does not have this functionality built-in. You have to install the buddy list operations plug-in to get it. This plug-in is part of the AIM Gadgets collection of plug-ins.

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I thought I’d answer a few “quickies” that I often see in the search queries used to access this blog in one form or another. If you have a question about AIM 6.0, just ask. You can leave a comment with your question and I will do my best to answer them.

Q: Can AIM 6.0 let me send messages while away?
A: YES. Make sure you check the “Allow me to send IMs while away” option in the Away Status tab of the IM window.

Q: How do I check offline IMs?
A: Offline IMs are delivered every time you sign-on from any AIM client.

Q: Where are offline stored?
A: They are stored on the host. You can send up to 40 of them per 24 hours and the host will save up to 40 of them per SN for as long as two weeks. Your buddy must have you in their buddy list in order to save offline IMs from you.

Q: How to import AIM 5.x settings into AIM 6.0
A: This is done for you when you install AIM 6.0 for the first time.