Prat

A framework addon for chat frame modules for World of Warcraft (this build targets the OctoWoW / Turtle WoW client, Interface version 11200).

Note: I am not the author of this addon. This is a third-party mod (Prat Development Team, laytya, Qxcl, and contributors — see credits below). This README is my own notes for using and configuring it.

Table of Contents

• What it does
• Installation
• Opening the options
• Modules & Options
  • Buttons
  • ChannelColorMemory
  • ChannelNames
  • ChannelSeparator
  • ChatTabs
  • Editbox
  • Fading
  • FontSize
  • Highlight
  • History
  • Justify
  • Keybindings
  • Notification
  • PlayerNames
  • PopupMessage
  • Scroll
  • StickyChannels
  • TellTarget
  • Timestamps
  • UrlCopy
  • Who
• Slash Commands
• Troubleshooting
  • Annoying sound plays whenever your name is mentioned
  • Sound spams repeatedly while your pet is attacking
  • Turning on "Debugging" does nothing
• Credits

What it does

Prat replaces and extends the default chat frame with a large set of independent modules, covering things like tabs, timestamps, fading, scrolling, font size, player name formatting, channel name abbreviation, popup notifications, and more. Every module can be toggled on/off and configured individually through the in-game options panel.

Installation

Place the Prat folder in your Interface/AddOns/ directory (already done if you're reading this from that folder), then enable Prat on the character selection AddOns list.

Opening the options

• /prat — opens the graphical options panel (Waterfall UI).
• /pratcl — opens the same options as a command-line/console menu.

Modules & Options

Buttons

Chat window menu and buttons options. ChatMenu toggles the chat menu button on/off.

ChannelColorMemory

Remembers the color you've set for a channel by its name, so channel colors persist across sessions/relogs. Has an on/off toggle.

ChannelNames

Abbreviates channel names (e.g. Say, Yell, Guild, Officer, Party, Raid, Whisper) in the chat window, with a per-channel-type settings group.

ChannelSeparator

Adds a visual separator between chat channels in the chat settings/channel list menu. Has an on/off toggle.

ChatTabs

Chat window tab options, including a SetMode setting to change tab behavior.

Editbox

Controls the chat editbox appearance, e.g. Alpha to set its transparency.

Fading

Chat window text fading options — fades old chat text out over time. Has a TextFade group to configure fading per window.

FontSize

Chat window font size options, with a SetMode setting to choose how font sizes are applied (e.g. globally vs per window).

Highlight

Text highlighting options for chat windows. Has an on/off toggle.

History

Chat history options — configure how many lines of history are kept per chat window.

Justify

Chat window text justification (alignment) options, configurable per window.

Keybindings

Adds keybindings related to chat (see the in-game Key Bindings menu, Prat section).

Notification

Chat channel notification options. Has an on/off toggle for the module.

PlayerNames

Player name formatting options:

• Brackets — style of brackets around player names (e.g. [Name], <Name>, or none).
• Common name coloring options, including a custom color picker.
• Mark self — toggles special color-marking of your own name whenever it appears in chat, with its own color picker. This is also what triggers a notification sound — see Troubleshooting.
• Module on/off toggle.

PopupMessage

Shows a popup message (with sound) whenever your name appears in chat.

• Toggle — module on/off.
• ShowMode — ALL or INDIVIDUAL (per chat window).
• Show — per chat-window toggles for which windows trigger popups (only relevant in INDIVIDUAL mode).

Scroll

Chat window scrolling options, including toggling mouse-wheel scrolling.

StickyChannels

Keeps your last-used chat channel "sticky" so it stays selected, configurable per chat type.

TellTarget

Adds a /tt slash command to whisper your current target. Has an on/off toggle.

Timestamps

Adds timestamps to chat lines, with a ShowMode setting to choose the timestamp format/behavior.

UrlCopy

Formats URLs posted in chat so they can be clicked/copied, with a Show Brackets toggle.

Who

Adds channel-related actions and a /chatwho command to list users on a channel.

Slash Commands

Command	Description
/prat	Open the Prat options panel (GUI)
/pratcl	Open the Prat options as a command-line menu
/tt	Whisper your current target (from the TellTarget module)
/chatwho	List users on a channel (from the Who module)

Troubleshooting

Annoying sound plays whenever your name is mentioned

Prat plays the default "FriendJoinGame" sound every time someone says your name in chat. This comes from two separate modules and can be disabled from either:

1. Open options with /prat.
2. Go to PlayerNames → turn off Mark self.
3. Go to PopupMessage → turn off Toggle (this disables the popup entirely, including its sound).

If you still want the popup or the self-color highlighting but not the sound, note that in this version the sound is hard-wired into those features (there's no separate "mute sound" checkbox) — disabling the feature itself is currently the only way to stop the sound.

Sound spams repeatedly while your pet is attacking

With Mark self (PlayerNames) turned on, having a pet out and attacking can cause the "FriendJoinGame" sound to spam repeatedly, once per combat message. This happens because pet combat log lines (e.g. your pet's attacks) also contain your character's name, so every single one of those messages re-triggers the same self-name match and plays the sound again.

Workaround: turn off Mark self in PlayerNames options (/prat → PlayerNames → Mark self) while your pet is fighting, or keep it disabled entirely if you use a pet class regularly.

Turning on "Debugging" does nothing

At the top of the /prat (or /pratcl) options list there's a Debugging toggle. This comes from the Ace2 framework (AceDebug-2.0), not from a Prat module — enabling it just sets an internal debugging flag on the root Prat addon object. It only produces output if some code actually calls self:Debug(...) while that flag is on.

In this build, none of the Prat modules (or Prat.lua itself) ever call :Debug(), :LevelDebug(), or similar — so there is nothing wired up to print. Turning the toggle on/off is expected to have no visible effect in-game; it isn't broken, it's just an unused hook left over from the Ace2 framework that this version of Prat doesn't take advantage of.

Credits

Prat Development Team, laytya, Qxcl, and contributors: Industrial, Ammo, Cirk, Yris, Leuchtturm, AnduinLothar, Satrina, 昏睡墨鱼&月色狼影, RuWOW team.

Website: https://github.com/Qxcl/Prat-turtle