As Cookie already explained it so well, if there was another place where the icons could be put, they woudl already be there...when creating Plus! 3.50 I searched a very long tiem for a sollution and I'm pretty happy with the current one. The fact is, I tried what yousuggested in yourscreenshot (icons at the bottom) but the "User is saying" message just messed it up too much. Almost every other place can be cut off from the window and the original location is crowded in Messenger 7. I thankyou for your suggestions but I dothink the current little vertical bar is the way to go for now as it's included nicely in the chat window (uses the same color theme), doesn't flash out weirdly when resizing the window (likethe previous icon was doing) and provides space for future possible additions
. Note that if you disable it, you can still bring the sound panel from the Plus! menu or with a keyboard shortcut (I don't remember it as I don't use it, it's in the change log
).