Make multiple windows the default for messages

Question

Make multiple windows the default for messages

In an older and saner time, when iChat messages came in from different people, they would appear in different windows.

How do I make this the default on Mountian Lion in Messages?

I have to say that Apple has really been destroying the user experience since Lion and Mountain Lion. The Mac used to be a pleasant experience, now every new release of the OS appears to have a new GUI for the sake of messing with the users' expectations.

Please tell me we can have messages from users appear in separate windows be default.

Thank you.

Messages-OTHER, OS X Mountain Lion (10.8.2)

Posted on Oct 10, 2012 6:15 PM

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Answer 1

Best reply

Ralph-Johns-UK

Level 9

76,789 points

Oct 17, 2012 12:49 PM in response to Alex Zavatone

Hi,

It cannot be done.

You can make the Chats separate out into different windows but new Messages (iMessages as well as AIM or Jabber chats) reopens the main Messages window defeating what you are trying to do. (the new IM does appear in both windows)

It would be useful for this to go back being under user control.

8:49 PM Wednesday; October 17, 2012

Please, if posting Logs, do not post any Log info after the line "Binary Images for iChat"

 iMac 2.5Ghz 5i 2011 (Mountain Lion 10.8.2)
 G4/1GhzDual MDD (Leopard 10.5.8)
 MacBookPro 2Gb (Snow Leopard 10.6.8)
 Mac OS X (10.6.8),
 Couple of iPhones and an iPad
"Limit the Logs to the Bits above Binary Images."  No, Seriously

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Answer 2

Oct 17, 2012 1:03 PM in response to Ralph-Johns-UK

Thanks for the info.

FWIW, I REALLY hate the direction that Apple's going in the locking down of the user interface to a "whole screen" approach. And then removing the option for the users to set the preferences "collect chats in one window". It's really insulting for those of us who have more than one brain cell.

Apple: Let the user make the decision. Stop removing the options that you previously gave to us. It's amazing when the OS upgrades make the Mac less useful, less user friendly and you expect us to pay for them.

At least ML's a better option than Lion. But really, so many of the options introduced in Lion force us to fight the system as opposed to the system helping us get our jobs done faster.

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Answer 3

Oct 17, 2012 1:03 PM in response to Alex Zavatone

Hi,

For the points

You would do better to use http://www.apple.com/feedback/ichat.html

Under the hood it is still iChat.

You will have to add the Version number and OS version in the free text field (Not that the drop downs add up anyway)

9:03 PM Wednesday; October 17, 2012

Please, if posting Logs, do not post any Log info after the line "Binary Images for iChat"

 iMac 2.5Ghz 5i 2011 (Mountain Lion 10.8.2)
 G4/1GhzDual MDD (Leopard 10.5.8)
 MacBookPro 2Gb (Snow Leopard 10.6.8)
 Mac OS X (10.6.8),
 Couple of iPhones and an iPad
"Limit the Logs to the Bits above Binary Images."  No, Seriously

Reply

Answer 4

Oct 17, 2012 1:16 PM in response to Alex Zavatone

Yeah, I've only got so much time in my day to solve Apple's design mistakes for them. Really. Apple should know better.

And I passed my feedback on some other list of 26 items in Lion a year + ago to certain decision makers and all it got me was an invitation to some unnamed, internal dysfunctional list, which I can not mention.

Put it this way. If my first experience on a computer was between Windows 7 and Lion, I would have become a Windows user. And this is from someone who has been a faithful Mac user since 1985.

I used to love the Mac. It made me want to use computers. But the changes that have some since Lion make me wonder what is wrong with the people in charge of major product design decisions. Since Lion, the cohesiveness of the Mac experience is seriously lacking as well as well thought out systemwide features.

But thanks man. Back to code and deployment for me. Cheers.

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Answer 5

Oct 17, 2012 1:28 PM in response to Alex Zavatone

Hi,

Understood.

9:28 PM Wednesday; October 17, 2012

Please, if posting Logs, do not post any Log info after the line "Binary Images for iChat"

 iMac 2.5Ghz 5i 2011 (Mountain Lion 10.8.2)
 G4/1GhzDual MDD (Leopard 10.5.8)
 MacBookPro 2Gb (Snow Leopard 10.6.8)
 Mac OS X (10.6.8),
 Couple of iPhones and an iPad
"Limit the Logs to the Bits above Binary Images."  No, Seriously

Reply

Answer 6

May 11, 2013 5:48 AM in response to Alex Zavatone

This is my first day on Mountain Lion and I confess I'm sharing the same frustration as Alex and others on other discussion pages: Why does Apple have to mess with these platforms when they upgrade. I need to monitor and respond to different chats. The old version - where each discussion was in a separate box, and I didn't have these little ballons popping up in the upper right corner of my screen - worked great for that. The new version, where everything is in one window that can't be shrunk beyond a certain size, is a clear disappointment.

Something is wrong when you actually wish you had your 2006 laptop back.

If anyone has a solution to this, please, let me know....

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