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The standard functions of the chat window

Of course, you don’t need a separate addon for every little setting – a lot of things can be easily controlled with the standard functions of the WoW chat window. If you click on the “General” tab, you can share the window, which allows you to move it anywhere in your interface. If you make it interactive, you’ll be able to click on channel names to instantly write in the corresponding channel. Scrolling in the window to read old messages is possible anyway. Likewise, without any addon, you can adjust the font size and make the background of the window transparent to colored opaque. In the settings menu (also found under the “General” tab) you can change the channel colors, deactivate channels and set what kind of status messages should generally be displayed in the chat window. You can also adjust the height and width of the window without addons; to do this, use the triangular icon with the three dashes at the bottom right of the window frame.

By the way: Some interface addons like ElvUI automatically provide you with additional chat options, so a separate chat addon becomes obsolete here.

So why do you need chat addons at all?

The most important function that chat addons usually have is copying from the chat window. After all, there’s hardly anything more annoying than this: a guild mate posts a link in the guild channel and you can’t click on it or copy it into your web browser’s address field. Instead, you have to painstakingly type out character after character when you want to view the website. Most chat addons solve this problem for you. Either they make hyperlinks interactive, so that you can click and use them directly, or they give you the possibility to copy them out of the window.

Besides this main function, there are often useful fripperies. You can choose between different fonts, get access to emoticons, or get a timestamp to see exactly when a message was sent. Many addons also allow you to assign new shortcuts for accessing the different chat channels.

WoW: The best chat addons

Here we present you the best and most popular chat addons and their functions. Just choose the one you like the most!

Prat 3.0

Judging by the amount of downloads, the most popular chat addon is certainly Prat 3.0. But this little treasure can really do almost anything your heart desires! So that our description of functions doesn’t get completely out of hand, we’ll limit ourselves to the most important modification options: With this addon you can adjust the size and font of your message input field and of course format the chat window exactly as you like and with your favorite font. You can simply turn off chat channels that you don’t need, but that’s not the best part! Prat 3.0 allows you to assign any new shortcut to each channel that you use to call it up. You also have the nifty ability to timestamp messages in chat, so you can track exactly when something was written. URLs in the chat window are colored separately, are automatically put in square brackets by Prat 3.0 and can be copied from a small pop-up window by right-clicking. The “CopyChat” function allows you to display the text of your chat window in an extra window, from which you can copy if necessary. Only for the emoticon lovers among you there is a small downer: Unfortunately Prat 3.0 has no extra function for displaying smileys. So if you want to have some, you will have to use an additional addon.

With the CopyChat function, Prat 3.0 opens a separate window where you can copy messages from your chats.

Source: Buffed

Chatter

If you download Chatter, you will notice already when logging in that the addon automatically changes your chat window. The Blizzard options in the margin have disappeared and your input field is also no longer displayed as long as you don’t write anything. As a result, the window is much smaller and less noticeable. Of course, you can choose the border and background color of the chatter window yourself. A cool formatting feature that probably no one ever needs is the ability to display the text in the window either left-aligned, right-aligned, or centered. When you press the Enter key, the input field immediately appears as usual. Just like with Prat 3.0, Chatter lets you assign new channel names and customize the colors of the chat channels according to your own preferences. Thanks to a small, very handy copy icon at the bottom right of the chat window, Chatter lets you bring up a new pop-up window from which you can copy chat messages. URLs are also in square brackets in Chatter and are colored white by default. By left-clicking on a URL you have the possibility to copy it from an extra window by pressing CTRL+C. There are no emoticons in Chatter either.

Chatter certainly has as many options as Prat 3.0, but apart from that, this addon focuses mainly on a space-saving chat window display.

Source: Buffed

WIM (WoW Instant Messenger)

WIM is a funny thing: instead of changing your in-game chat window, you get an additional window per open chat, whose sole purpose is to talk to a single person. Of course, this window also works across games when you’re writing with your Battle.net friends. A small icon on the right side provides you with all the important information on mouseover: With which character and in which game is your chat partner currently online? And where is he hanging out?

Do you love Microsoft Instant Messenger? Then you might also like WIM!

Source: Buffed

While you can move the WIM window anywhere you want within your WoW window, and when you’re not typing it becomes a bit more transparent, WIM probably just takes up too much space in most interfaces. Of course you can always close the window or minimize it by shift-clicking. If you just minimize it, it will pop right back up when your chat partner writes you a message. The different types of chats (guild chat, personal messages, …) can also be provided with different sounds, so that you can always hear immediately who is writing to you. The big advantage of this addon: with WIM, you’ll never send messages to the wrong people again; so embarrassing “fc” situations are eliminated from the start. And because WIM is a classic instant messenger, there are of course also smileys