14 DAY TRIAL // Skype for Mac has just been given a major overhaul which includes a truly compact contacts monitor, improved screen sharing for premium users, resizable contact list columns, improved SMS support and automatic reorientation of mobile video calls, a keyboard shortcut for volume control and support for the unreleased Mountain Lion operating system.
Beom Soo Park, beta program manager for the Mac Skype client, says this release is the result of some valuable feedback sent by users worldwide.
Since your effort has been so important to shaping up the next Skype, “significant efforts have been made to improve overall usability in this release,” writes Park.
For instance, there’s a much-improved Contacts Monitor that allows you to make your contact list more compact while using other apps on your Mac, saving screen real estate.
Skype Premium subscribers are now allowed to see their video call and screen sharing at the same time, “so that you can see the reaction of the person or people you're sharing with.”
Park continues to detail the new additions in Skype 5.8 for Mac, noting that “Columns in your Contact List window can be resized to their minimum width so that users can make the best use of space on their desktop.”
The new Skype now shows an SMS button in the conversation input field, and the automatic reorientation of mobile video calls has been improved as well. The purpose was to aid switching between landscape and portrait mode and vice versa.
“We have added a volume control keyboard shortcut (cmd+opt+up/down) so users can adjust the volume not only from preferences, but also from anywhere in the app,” adds Park.
Finally, the new release is compatible with the as-of-yet unreleased Mountain Lion, the ninth major version of Apple’s desktop operating system.