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Gossip Manual

2004 Daniel Taylor

2004 Keywan Najafi Tonekaboni

This manual describes version 0.7 of Gossip

Feedback To report a bug or make a suggestion regarding the Gossip application or this manual, follow the directions in the GNOME Feedback Page.

Gossip

Introduction

What is Gossip

Gossip is an instant messaging program for the GNOME Desktop. It allows instant communication across a network using the Jabber protocol. Gossip is written to be as simple to use as possible and to allow users of the GNOME Desktop to easily keep in touch with friends.

What is Jabber

Jabber is an open instant messaging protocol standard. It allows a group of interconnected servers to pass messages to one another in a similar fashion to e-mail. From this two main advantages follows. First the users can choose freely a jabber server from a company, organization or privat person they trust. And they can chat with everybody, who has an jabber account, because normally all the server are connected together.

More information on the Jabber protocol can be found on the Website of the Jabber Software Fondation and in Wikipedia.

Getting Started

To Start Gossip

You can start Gossip in the following ways:

Applications menu

• Choose Internet -> Gossip

Command line

• To start Gossip from a command line, type "gossip" and then press Return.

When You Start Gossip the first time

When you start Gossip the first time, the following window is displayed.

Gossip First Start Up Window: [ ]

Shows Gossips first start window which is a wizard to set up Gossip.

This window is an assistant to set up Gossip. With this wizard you can set up Gossip in few steps. You can use it to get a new Jabber Account or setting up Gossip for using an existing Jabber Account.

Getting a Jabber Account

Gossip will help set up a new Jabber account:

When first running Gossip, answer No to the "Do you already have an account on a Jabber server?" question and click Next.

Fill in desired user name and actual name and click Next.

Choose a server from the list given, or type in a custom server if desired, and click Next.

Review the information and click Apply.

When prompted on first connection with the account, enter desired password.

Setting up Gossip to Use an existing Jabber Account

Gossip will let you use an existing Jabber account:

When first running Gossip, answer Yes to the "Do you already have an account on a Jabber server?" question and click Next.

Fill in the user name of the account and click Next.

Choose the correct server for the account from the list, or type in a custom server if needed, and click Next. When finished, click Apply.

Enter the account password when prompted.

When You Start Gossip

When you start Gossip, the following window is displayed.

Gossip main window:

http://www.prometoys.net/figures/gossip_roster.png

Shows Gossip main window. Contains titlebar, menubar, contact list, status icon and status drop-down list. Menubar contains Chat, Edit and Help menus.

The Gossip window contains the following elements:

Menubar.

• The menus on the menubar contain all of the commands you needed to connect to servers and manage accounts, contacts, and preferences in Gossip.

Contact List

• The Contact List shows all available contacts and their assosiated statuses.

Status Icon.

• This shows the current status of the user.

Status Drop-Down List.

• You can use this selector to change your online state.

Usage

You can use the Gossip application to perform the following tasks:

Connect to the Server

To connect to the server, choose Chat, Connect... from the MenuBar.

Gossip will connect automatically on start-up to the server.

Disconnect from the Server

To disconnect to the server, choose Chat, Disconnect from the MenuBar.

Adding a Contact

If you add a contact to your contact list, you can see when this person is online.To add a contact, perform the following steps:

• 1.Select Chat, Add Contact from the MenuBar. 1.Enter the contact's Jabber ID (JID) and click Forward. The Jabber ID looks like an email-address with name@host.domain. 1.Enter a desired nickname and group name for the contact. The nickname will be displayed in the Contact List under the chosen group name. Click Forward when finished. 1.You need the authorization from the contact, to add him or her to the Contact List. Also everybody who wants add you, needs your authorization. Enter a desired request message that will be sent to the contact and click Forward. 1.Review the information displayed and click Apply..

When the user has permited your request, you can see the user in your contact list as Avaible, Busy or Away.

Accessing a Contact's Information

Right Click a contact's nickname in the Contact List and select Contact Information.

Renaming a Contact

Right Click a contact's nickname in the Contact List and select Rename Contact. Enter new name and click Ok to apply, or Cancel to discard all changes.

Removing a Contact

Right Click a contact's nickname in the Contact List and select Remove Contact. Click Yes when prompted to finish removal.

Use emote icons

Gossip converts few smileys into emote icons in chat windows. Here is a list to help you write good smileys !

Settings

This is really out of date....

To configure Gossip, choose Edit, Preferences. The Preferences dialog contains the following tabbed

• sections: Display
  • Interpolation type Use this drop-down list box to specify the
    • interpolation method that Gossip uses when the application resizes images. Select one of the following options:
      • Nearest neighbor
      • This method of interpolation takes a location in the
        • original image and replicates the pixel that is nearest to this location. When you zoom in on an image, the pixels are replicated. When you zoom out of an image, the image loses some of its detail. Bilinear
        This is a simple and fast method of interpolation. When
        • you zoom in on an image, Gossip uses up to four adjacent pixels to compute the colors of the new pixels. When you zoom out of an image, Gossip averages regions of color in the existing image to compute the colors of the pixels. Hyperbolic
        This is a high-quality, slow method of interpolation. The
        • application performs interpolation on the image in the manner described in Digital Image Warping by George Wolberg.
    Default:
    • Nearest neighbor.
    Transparency type Use this drop-down list box to specify how
    • Gossip displays transparent or partially opaque backgrounds in images. Select one of the following options:
      • Dark checks
      • This option displays black and dark gray checks.
        • Midtone checks
        This option displays dark gray and light gray
        • checks. Light checks
        This option displays light gray and white checks.
        • Black only
        This option displays solid black.
        • Gray only
        This option displays solid gray.
        • White only
        This option displays solid white.
    Default:
    • Dark checks.
    Check size Use this drop-down list box to specify the size of the checks
    • to use to display transparent or partially opaque backgrounds in images. This option is only relevant if you choose Dark checks, Midtone checks, or Light checks from the Transparency type drop-down list box. Select one of the following options:
      • Small Medium Large
    Default:
    • Small.
    Dither type Use this drop-down list box to specify the dithering method
    • to use to display images. Dithering is a technique that is used to simulate colors in the original image file but that your system can not display. Select one of the following options:
      • None
      • This option does not use dithering.
        • Normal (pseudocolor)
        This option performs dithering on pseudocolor displays,
        • which use a limited palette of colors. Maximum (high color)
        This option performs dithering on pseudocolor and high
        • color displays.
    Default:
    • None.
    Two-pass scrolling Select this option to render an image in two passes
    • when you scroll the image quickly. The first pass renders a low quality version of the image. The second pass renders a full quality version of the image over the low quality version. Two-pass scrolling enables you to view at least a low quality version of the image at all times regardless of how quickly you scroll the image.
    Default: unselected.
  Viewers You can set the following viewer preferences:
  • Image Windows The
    • Image Windows group contains the preferences that you can set to view images in image windows.
      • Use scrollbars Use this drop-down list box to specify when to use
        • scrollbars to scroll through an image. Select one of the following options:
          • Never
          • This option never displays scrollbars. You can use the
            • arrow keys on the keyboard or the mouse to scroll through the image. Only if image does not fit
            This option displays scrollbars when the image is
            • larger than the image window.
        Default:
        • Never.
        Pick window size and zoom factor
        • automatically
        Select this option to resize the image window to fit the
        • image or to resize the image to fit the image window. If the image is small, Gossip resizes the image window to fit the image. If the image is large, Gossip resizes the image to fit the image window.
        Default: unselected. Open images in a new window Select this option to open a new
        • Gossip window each time you open an image. If you do not select this option, Gossip replaces the existing image with the new image when you open an image.
        Default: unselected.
    Full Screen The
    • Full Screen group contains the preferences that you can set to view images in full screen mode.
      • Use scrollbars Use this drop-down list box to specify when to use
        • scrollbars to scroll through an image. Select one of the following options:
          • Never
          • This option never displays scrollbars. You can use the
            • arrow keys on the keyboard or the mouse to scroll through the image. Only if image does not fit
            This option displays scrollbars when the image is
            • larger than the full screen.
        Default:
        • Never.
        Use 1:1 zoom factor Select this option to use the 1:1 zoom factor when you open
        • an image. The 1:1 zoom factor displays the image at its actual size.
        Default: selected. Use same zoom factor as image window Select this option to use the same zoom factor that the
        • application uses to display the image in an image
        window. Default: unselected. Fit all images to screen Select this option to resize images to fill the full screen
        • when you open the images in full screen mode.
        Default: unselected. Fit standard-sized images to screen Select this option to automatically resize images
        • that are the same size as standard screens so that the images fill the full screen when you open them in full screen mode. If you select this option, Gossip ignores the settings for the previous three options when you open an image that is the same size as a standard screen. Examples of standard screen sizes are 640 x 480 pixels, 1024 x 768 pixels, and so on.
        Default: unselected. Put a bevel around the edge of the screen Select this option to display a 3D beveled border around
        • the full screen view of an image.
        Default: unselected.

About Gossip

Gossip was written by GNOME-HACKER

(hacker@gnome.org). To find more information about

• Gossip, please visit the MY-GNOME-APP Web
  • page.
  To report a bug or make a suggestion regarding this application or this manual, follow the directions in this document.

• This program is distributed under the terms of the GNU
  • General Public license as published by the Free Software Foundation; either version 2 of the License, or (at your option) any later version. A copy of this license can be found at this link, or in the file COPYING included with the source code of this program.