Adium
Dock Icons Emoticons Contact List Styles Message Styles Sound Sets AppleScripts Status Icons Service Icons Menu Bar Icons Plugins Miscellaneous All
Succinct

Succinct

Submitted By David zkl (zkl)

Description

So this is my first release - please be kind with me ;)
There are several things that bugged me with most of the other themes:

  1. Why do you need to see your and your buddies name inside the chat? I know with whom I am chatting (at least most of the time ^^). So i removed them.
  2. I also know what I wrote. The interesting thing for me in a conversation is what the other one writes/says. So I emphasized those lines and dimmed my own ones.
  3. Time isnt relevant most of the time (^^) - but somtetimes I need that too, so I made that visible on hover.


In short: no nicknames, no timestamp! Minimal!

There are 6 Variants: Light, Graphite, Blue, Blue Gloss, Pink, Transparent Dark and Transparent Light. Those two latter ones are to be used with your own backgrounds, they have translucent incoming chatlines.
Upon request in the WIP-stage I also added optional nicknames - so there are 12 choices :)

As this is my first release here, I am hoping for some criticism to make it better!

Changes

  • (1.1) Added Sequel, an awesome variant by Paul Vrbik. Thanks again!
  • (1.0.1) Fixed a dark link on dark background bug
  • (1.0) Rewrote most parts - more flexible now! Added "Plain" and "Buddyicons"-Variants. That doubled the amount of variants :D. Fixed some bugs too!
  • (0.7) Added additional variant: "prequel" - the one I build first (but did not release)
  • (0.6) status messages are italic now and display time
  • (0.55) fixed long nicknames
  • (0.5) first release

Images

Comments

You can reply to individual comments by clicking the "Reply" link next to each.

# by BlackandWhitePenguin on 09/14/07 at 04:12:25

Pretty cool. Not sure what I think of the time stamp though.

# by zkl on 09/14/07 at 13:54:28

Thanks for your comment! Timestamp appears only on hover - and if you use Safari 3 it even has rounded edges :P

# by otoh on 09/14/07 at 07:37:21

This is great! I agree completly with your 3 points, and I love this very minimal theme. I'm using transparent light variant on a white background with 80% opacity and it looks great.

A couple of suggestions: maybe a few variants with transparent colours. And I'd like to see a bit more differentiation with the status change messages (away, idle etc) - maybe in italic? Right-aligned? Paler text? Or even in a paler version of the incoming message panel (It's related to their side of the conversation, after all)? I'm not sure what would work best. And perhaps show the timestamp on these? (But I think hover is fine for actual messages).

Anyway, I love it and this is now my default style. Thanks for making it.

# by otoh on 09/14/07 at 08:37:28

Oh sorry, I thought of something else (you did ask!) When you use a smiley in chat, some styles, eg Smooth Operator, vertically center it in relation to the text (or the other way round) - I think that looks nicer than having the smiley sit on the text baseline. Sorry if I'm being to picky :)

# by zkl on 09/14/07 at 14:06:04

Hi, thanks for your comment - fixed that (new version)! I made status messages italic now. I don't think they deserve as much highlight as the incoming messages ... but I made the time always visisble. Always good having critisicm :)

# by mathuaerknedam on 09/14/07 at 13:49:41

Very nice.

# by itunesmc on 09/14/07 at 15:56:11

and what about chatrooms? how can i know who is saying what?

# by zkl on 09/14/07 at 16:22:22

I don't use them - but you could use the nickname-variants.

# by otoh on 09/14/07 at 19:45:28

Thanks for the quick changes. This is now superb. Thanks again!

# by dcentity2000 on 09/14/07 at 21:46:18

Beautiful!

# by zerozoob on 09/17/07 at 11:11:34

Wow, this one is my new favorite. Thank you, 5 stars.

# by csquared on 09/18/07 at 15:54:22

Excellent, excellent stuff. The minimalism is nice, but I especially love some of the subtle graphical touches you put in there. The transparent variants are quite elegant.

There is a contrast problem on some of the variations that affects legibility. The contrast between the text and background on the graphite variant seems especially low. Both of the blue variations are difficult to read—and maybe it's just me, but I'd like the blue a shade or two darker. Also, on the blue variant, switching to black hyperlinks with normal white copy is a little rough on the eyes; I think going with something like yellow or light blue, or even just white with the dashed underline would work best there.

If possible, I'd like to see a variant (or variants) where the incoming text is black-on-white. Studies show that nothing beats black-copy-on-white-background for legibility (maybe off-white, but still), and it would give a natural "pop" to the text.

# by csquared on 09/18/07 at 15:58:16

Hey, as long as I'm offering up constructive criticism: the pink seems a little too "hot". Desaturate it just a little, and I think it'll be perfect.

# by csquared on 09/19/07 at 19:03:51

One more nitpick (last one, I promise): bolded and italicized text renders in Times New Roman, regardless of the font selected by the user (even with the Lucida Grande default).

# by zkl on 09/19/07 at 19:58:05

This is strange ... you mean bold and itialic text that is formatted by the user (in-/outgoing)?

For the other points: Yesterday I started to redo the whole colors so there will be more to come :)

# by csquared on 09/20/07 at 03:57:52

Never mind re: the font thing—looks like something wonky with Adium itself. Resetting to the Default Font fixed everything. Sorry!

# by zipper on 09/19/07 at 17:29:11

This looks awesome! Great work!

# by tempques on 09/25/07 at 20:46:42

How about an all white nicknames version, with no dividing lines? Shouldn't be to hard to do. =)

# by Beaeuge on 10/01/07 at 19:03:18

oh wonderful! love it...

# by Adamouk on 11/24/07 at 14:52:01

Nice, great job :)

# by RockyMontana on 12/17/07 at 23:54:32

Oh man!
This is just exactly what I've been looking for!
It's faaaantastic!

The only thing that I have to oppose myself against is the dashed underline on links, except from that, WOW!

# by blablah01 on 12/18/07 at 13:55:18

I want that wood pattern! :D

# by sillyaxolotl on 01/06/08 at 06:54:52

I always know who I'm talking to, but I love to see their icons by their text, as well.
I think if you could pull that off, it'd be a great addition to this already nicely-designed style. :D
Just my two cents.

(I love the wood paneling idea too, by the way!)

# by sillyaxolotl on 01/06/08 at 06:56:00

Oh, one more thing: I do like the hover time stamp. I think it completes the entire design. :D

# by PrinzAdium on 02/11/08 at 06:09:22

Hi! Great message style!
The guys from macthemes2.net asked me to share the mod I made from your theme.
So am I allowed release it?

Best
David

# by DBrenz on 05/04/08 at 04:30:02

This is perfect and classy! Perhaps it could have a variant that also showed user icons?

# by zkl on 05/04/08 at 08:49:38

Thanks you ;) Ok, as this is the second request for user icons I think will do a variant.

# by DBrenz on 05/04/08 at 14:25:03

Thanks for taking a vote zkl, i look forward to the new variant :D

# by jeby on 05/07/08 at 16:58:54

wow!!! Amazing! Were do you find that wonderful wood pattern?

# by westcoast021 on 06/27/08 at 01:08:45

very nice dude...likin' it.

# by westcoast021 on 07/11/08 at 08:13:03

i'd also like to know where you found that wood background...i'm currently using a different one of my own with the transparent light variant, but i liked yours as well. let us know if u have it or know where to find it! :) love this message style btw, so customizable and always elegantly minimalistic. love it. particular love for the timestamp only on hover...LOVE THAT.

# by zkl on 07/11/08 at 18:55:39

Thank you so much :)
http://mt15.quickshareit.com/share/wo...p7a1cf5.gif here you go. This is the pattern I used in the screenshot.

# by westcoast021 on 07/12/08 at 00:31:01

you're so welcome! :D
the link worked perfectly, thank you so much for the pattern! :)

# by om3ga on 08/17/08 at 19:56:15

probably the best message-style around. a must for everyone who is looking for class and style!

# by jwohland on 08/26/08 at 14:01:17

Darn.. anyone else lose the icon in the header after the 1.3 update? I had it this style set up perfectly a minute ago. :(

# by zkl on 09/06/08 at 15:24:16

Hey, I run Adium 1.3.1b2 with Safari 4b and header works for me! Perhaps try the new version that I just released? :) Hope it works now.

# by lukeandrews on 09/07/08 at 20:45:26

I wish there was a way to have a blur as a background. So it would still be transparent but blurred so I could read the messages if it is over other text.

# by zkl on 10/09/08 at 09:13:16

Yeah, that would be nice but this is a limitation of Adium. Can't do anything :)

# by doubleback on 09/16/08 at 11:43:42

Typo?: "2. I also know what I wrote. The interesting thing for me in a conversation is not what the other one writes/says. So I emphasized those lines and dimmed my own ones."

I think that you didn't mean that the interesting thing is NOT what the other one says. Great message style tho.

# by zkl on 10/09/08 at 09:12:36

Thanks, fixed ;)

# by leahbasskitten on 10/13/08 at 08:31:21

i looove this theme! but there is one css goof in the transparent dark variant. the urls from other people are dark on top of the dark background. here's a screenshot: http://img.skitch.com/20081013-8484mt...nd8uudm.png

other than that, i have no other complaints!

# by zkl on 10/13/08 at 16:50:04

Hey thanks for your input - I just uploaded a new version where that bug should be fixed.
Be sure to restart Adium after you installed the new version :)

# by leahbasskitten on 10/15/08 at 07:30:01

w00t! awesome!! sorry for the late reply, i was too busy enjoying it :D

# by norskii on 11/08/08 at 13:26:17

This is so beautiful theme! :P I'm a hardcore minimalist, so this is really the only theme I truly love and want to use. Thank you sooo much!

# by pera777 on 11/29/09 at 17:19:54

Killer!!!

# by Gavvvy on 03/17/10 at 01:04:43

Love it, but there's one significant issue: Multiple user chats need to display nicknames, otherwise I have absolutely no idea who;s saying what. It gets really confusing end everybody else in the conversation thinks you're an idiot.

Awesome work, I'd love that fix though!

# by zkl on 03/17/10 at 10:08:06

Llook at the second to last sentence — there is a variant with just that! ;)

# by Gavvvy on 03/17/10 at 17:22:09

Yup - I'm just picky and only want usernames on multiuser chats!

# by roximonoxide on 09/08/10 at 21:20:49

I love this one. So nice and simple. I especially like it with the Prequel variant but, I wish I had the capability to alter the secondary color in the Prequel variant from blue to whatever I'd like.

If there is a way to do it and I'm just ignorant to it, I'd love to know how.

# by 2013535 on 12/16/10 at 06:17:37

ok i love it

# by Rabbids on 12/26/10 at 15:09:35

This is great!
Finally a really plain theme.
Chapeaux! :)

# by Biacho on 01/31/11 at 03:15:17

Hi! Greate theme... but i have one question...
Can you some how remove the slide bar in transparent mode ? ;]

Post a New Comment

You must be logged in to post comments.

Install | Download
39.31kb (47000 downloads)

12345
4.00 / 299 votes
Current Version: 1.1
Last Updated: 12/11/10
Credits:
Thanks to pyn from macthemes2.net for the name suggestion and Benjamin for bugtesting!