Colloquy

A good looking chat client and Mac OS X are not words you would normally put in the same sentence. Colloquy aims to change this situation, by adhering its interface to the Mac OS X visual style. Of course, the application is not just about looking good. It provides support for IRC, SILC and ICB, a buddy list for IRC contacts, compatibility for mIRC colors and more.

The main user interface consists of a list in which you can save any number of servers, along with their corresponding connection settings. New servers are defined on a separate window. It is sufficient to select a protocol and to type in a server's name or select one in a drop menu, but you can make other settings as well. The application allows you to set up a proxy, specify a username and password, if necessary and add one or more chat rooms to a list, if you wish to join them automatically.

A series of options can be found above the servers list, which allow you to connect to a selected server, join chat rooms, send messages to specific users and more. Once you connect to a server, you may start looking for chat rooms. Rather than typing a room's name, you only need to select it in a list and click a button.

The application allows you to connect to multiple servers and join several chat rooms at the same time. The chat rooms you join are displayed on the same chat window, together with their users. You may communicate in the general chat area or select specific users and chat in private. It is also possible to switch to different text encodings, insert emoticons, change the visual style of the chat window and perform other actions, which should make your experience more comfortable.