RetroHexChat supports IRC-compatible formatting, Markdown, and plain text messages.
Message Format
Use the IRC, MD, and TXT selector beside the composer to choose how the next message is saved and rendered.
- IRC: classic mIRC styles. Bold, italic, underline, reverse and the 16 colors.
- Markdown: headings, bold, italic, strikethrough, code, quotes, lists and links. A preview button shows the result before you send.
- Plain text: the message is sent exactly as typed, with no styles.
How to format a message
- Click the Formatting Toolbar button beside the message box. A small panel opens.
- At the top of the panel, choose IRC formatting, Markdown formatting or Plain text.
- Place the cursor in the message box, then click a style button or press its shortcut.
- Type your text and press Enter to send it.
Press Escape to close the panel and return to the message box. The formatting toolbar is not shown on the Status tab.
Methods
Toolbar: The formatting toolbar changes with the selected message format.
Keyboard Shortcuts:
- Ctrl+Shift+B Bold
- Ctrl+Shift+Y Italic
- Ctrl+Shift+U Underline
- Ctrl+Shift+D Color. Type a color number right after it.
- Ctrl+Shift+V Reverse. Swaps the text and background colors.
- Ctrl+Shift+X Reset all formatting
These shortcuts insert IRC control codes at the cursor, so use them with the IRC format. Bold, italic, underline and reverse are switches: press the same shortcut again to turn the style off.
Strip Formatting
Click the S button in the formatting toolbar to strip all formatting from incoming messages.
The button is called Strip Formatting. The same switch is in the View menu. It changes only how messages look on your screen. Other people still see the formatting.
Rules and limits
- In a channel with mode +c, the server removes all formatting from new messages and saves them as plain text.
- Only the first 128 IRC formatting codes in a message are shown.