Trillian Astra

Features

Metacontact

To eliminate duplicates and simplify the structure of the contact list, users of Trillian can bundle multiple contacts of the same person into one entry in the contact list, using the Metacontact feature . Subcontacts will appear under the metacontact as small icons aligned in a manner of a tree.

Activity history

Activity History in actionTrillian Basic and Pro both come with Activity History, and both log the history as both plain text files and as XML files. Pro has a History Manager that shows the chat history and allows the user to add bookmarks for revision later on. XML-based history makes the log easy to manipulate, searchable and extendable for future functions.

Time travel

Trillian Pro also has a time traveling feature, which allows the user to record, and subsequently review, pause, rewind, and fast forward live video and audio sessions. According to the application, "Time travel to the future is not currently available."

Instant lookup

Starting with version 3.0 in both the Basic and Pro suites, Trillian makes use of the English-language version of the Wikipedia free online encyclopedia for real-time referencing using its database of free knowledge. The feature is employed directly within a conversation window of a user. When one or more words are entered (by either user), Trillian checks all words against a database file and if a match is found, the word appears with a dotted green underline. When users point their mouse over the word, the lead paragraph of the corresponding article is downloaded from Wikipedia and displayed on screen as a tooltip. When users click on the underlined word, they are given the choice to visit the article online.

Emotiblips

Emotiblips are the video equivalent of an emoticon. During video sessions, the user may stream a song or video to the other user in real time. One can send MP3s, WAVs, WMVs, and MPGs with this feature. QuickTime MOV files as Emotiblips are not currently supported.

Hidden smileys

In version 2.0 to the current, the default emoticon set contains emoticons that don't appear in the menu but can be used in conversations. Some of these are animations that can only be viewed in Trillian Pro, but all of them can be used regardless.

Skins and interfaces

Trillian has its own unique skinning engine known as SkinXML. Many skins have been developed for Trillian and they can be downloaded from the official skins gallery or deviantArt.

Trillian also came with an easier skinning language, Stixe, which is essentially a set of XML Entities that simplifies repetitive codes and allows skinners to share XML and graphics in the form of emoticon packs, sound packs and interfaces.

The default skins of Trillian are designed by designHazard. Trillian Cordillera was used in Trillian 0.7x, while Trillian Whistler has been the default skin for Trillian since Pro 1.0. Slight cosmetic changes were noticeable in each major release.

The Trillian Astra features a brand new design for the front-end UI, called Trillian Cordonata.

Download Links:

Trillian Astra 4.1.0.24
Trillian Sstra v4.2.0.20