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Chit Chat is a third party client for Facebook's instant chat feature. Basically, what it does is emulate the IM feature you get when logged into Facebook- so you don't need to actually go to your Facebook page to chat with people. Now, many of you may be asking “Why bother? Is it too difficult to just log into Facebook?” While this is a valid question, Chit Chat does bring a few ideas to the table that make it worth your while.
First of all, the interface should already be familiar with anyone who has had an internet connection this side of the millennium. It's visually similar to MSN Messenger, or Windows Live Messenger as it's known these days. This isn't a bad thing as it means the interface is immediately accessible and easy to follow. Anyone online is listed at the top with a green light, anyone who isn't is at the bottom with a red one. A nice feature is that you can also set your Facebook status with a handy little box at the top of the client. It's not a core requirement, but it's a nice afterthought.
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Right clicking on your contacts also brings up the usual options of send message, view chat history and so forth, but you can also send them an e-mail and post items to their wall. More nice features of the client.
Your customization options are very basic, but thorough. All the usual options you would expect from a chat client are there, start with Windows, play sounds when messages are received, show notifications of people signing in and out and so on. It's all useful stuff, but beyond setting up proxies and other custom connection settings, you can do very little to customise Chit Chat itself- you're stuck with the same colour scheme and layout. But as previously stated the interface is smooth, simple and slick- so there is no real need to customize it.
The chat functions work very well, with all your current conversations tabbed into one convenient window, complete with a status to light to let you know when you there's a message waiting for you. Audio alerts also sound to let you know when a new message has arrived. The tabbed browsing and large windows are by far the best reason to give Chit Chat a try, especially if you use the chat function on Facebook often. The font is much larger, the windows better organised, and you can see more of the conversation on screen. All in all, it's a huge step up in terms of usability, and well worth the hassle of needing to install the program (which is in itself a relatively pain free process by freeware standards). You'll also find a lot of use for Chit Chat if you often post on people's walls- the fact you can do so with a few clicks as opposed to the need to navigate to everyone's Facebook page will save you a considerable amount of time.
Chit Chat also integrates very well as a Facebook client with other, similar forms of communication such as MSN via Facebook-I actually had a conversation with someone where neither my friend nor I was using the actual Facebook site itself and neither of us noticed any problems.
The only real criticism I can make of Chit Chat is that it's status update alerts tend to come in batches that can crawl all the way up your screen. However this is a problem with Facebook itself as opposed to Chit Chat, and you can disable the notifications if required. The program itself looks a little rough around the edges, but don't let this put you off- functionally it is absolutely fine, and adding bells and whistles might even detract from the program's sheer utility.
Overall, Chit Chat is worth your time if you do a lot of chatting over Facebook. It's well put together, compact and easy to use. You owe it to your eyes to be able to view larger fonts than are capable on the Facebook site client. On that note, the visually impaired may also find that Chit Chat helps them to view Facebook chats far more easily. If you're not big on Facebook chat though, you can probably live without Chit Chat, but I would recommend giving it at least the once over as if most of your friends are on Facebook it may work well as 'lite' alternate to Windows Live Messenger.
The only real criticism I can make of Chit Chat is that it's status update alerts tend to come in batches that can crawl all the way up your screen. However this is a problem with Facebook itself as opposed to Chit Chat, and you can disable the notifications if required. The program itself looks a little rough around the edges, but don't let this put you off- functionally it is absolutely fine, and adding bells and whistles might even detract from the program's sheer utility.
Overall, Chit Chat is worth your time if you do a lot of chatting over Facebook. It's well put together, compact and easy to use. You owe it to your eyes to be able to view larger fonts than are capable on the Facebook site client. On that note, the visually impaired may also find that Chit Chat helps them to view Facebook chats far more easily. If you're not big on Facebook chat though, you can probably live without Chit Chat, but I would recommend giving it at least the once over as if most of your friends are on Facebook it may work well as 'lite' alternate to Windows Live Messenger.
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