Fine Tuning Your World
Figure 11: Using the options dialogue to change
your character to Xeno the ET
Comic Chat has several useful options found under the [View +
Options] menu. The most common option is to change your character.
The dialogue box in the preceding figure displays the array of
characters to choose from. You can even use the built-in Emotion
Wheel to try out each character in all stances.
Another option is the ability to set up personal information.
As the following figure shows, you can give your real name (if
you choose to), your Nickname (which you would have also been
asked for when you started Comic Chat for the first time) and
a brief description of yourself. Many Comic Chat citizens forget
to fill out their personal information. In the singles
area it is especially important to have something there
and to check what other people write about themselves.
In their profiles, people have the opportunity to express their
true selves or their fantasy selves. So, don't believe everything
at face value, just like in the real world.
Figure 12: Using options to set up your personal
Information
Another very important set of options can be found under Settings.
Comic Chat normally paints only two comic strip panels across.
If there are a lot of people talking, the panels can flash by
so fast that you miss threads of conversation. If you set [Page
Layout] to 4 Panels Wide or greater, you will get a better overview,
at the expense of graphical detail.
Other settings include [Connection] which allows you to turn off
the graphical information going out from Comic Chat's IRC server.
This is important if you are chatting with someone who is just
running IRC without Comic Chat. This will save that person having
to see a whole lot of graphics control gibberish. The last option
turns on or off the prompt you get when closing Comic Chat which
asks you if you want to save your last conversation.
See the help file in Comic Chat or visit the Microsoft Comic Chat
website listed at the beginning of this chapter for more detailed
information about using Comic Chat with IRC.
Figure 13: Using option to select settings
like Page Layout
A final option, shown in the following figure, allows you to change
the background against which all the characters are painted. This
changes the background just for you, not the other users.
Figure 14: Using option to choose a new background
Comic Chat Keyboard Shortcuts
Comic Chat has a whole set of keyboard shortcuts which are very
handy to use, especially to keep up with a fast paced conversation.
| Key combination | Action |
| CTRL+A | Selects all text in compose window. |
| CTRL+C | Copies selected text from compose window to the Clipboard. |
| CTRL+D | Deletes selected text from the compose window. |
| CTRL+I | Send Action. Sends text from the compose window to the chat pane, as a caption. |
| CTRL+N | Closes the current chat session and opens a new connection. |
| CTRL+O | Opens a file. |
| CTRL+P | Prints a file. |
| CTRL+S | Saves a file. |
| CTRL+T | Sends the contents of the compose window as a thought. |
| CTRL+V | Pastes the Clipboard contents to the compose window. |
| CTRL+W | Sends the contents of the compose window as a whisper. |
| CTRL+X | Cuts the selected text to the Clipboard. |
| CTRL+Y | Sends the contents of the compose window. |
| CTRL+Z | Undo. Reverses the most recent action in the compose window. |
Table 5: Comic Chat keyboard shortcuts