Beginners detailed guide to customising Miranda IM?

Question

I want to use Miranda IM as my client of choice for IM. Despite being a relatively advanced computer user and doing a lot of google-ing and reading of guides etc out there I can't find a good guide that explain what each plugin to Miranda does, is needed for, how it works, and how to install it. Additionally I can't find an good list of recommended plugins and why to use them. Quite often it seems people recommend installing several different plugins that do the same thing, which confuses me. Additionally there are so many plugins and themes to search through on the home site my brain can't cope!

So does any one have a good beginners guide that will hand hold me through getting up and running with a customised version of Miranda IM, preferably with recommended plug ins and why to use them?

Some good links to themes and skins for the associated plugins would be nice too.

This is going to be used on a Windows XP Pro/Vista OS

Thanks :)

Answer 1

Miranda IM: A Guide to Customization

This guide will get you here:

Answer 2

That's very much like asking "What Firefox plugins should I use, and why?", you'll get popular ones like AdBlock+, or TabMixPlus, but there are a)So many, and b)Such a variety, it's really not easy to say.

Depending on what you're using it for, you might not need and plugins at all. I'd recommend, though, Modern Contact List, as it's skinnable and customisable and so, MyDetails to display name, personal message, and so at the top of the window, and TabSRMM to provide a tabbed IM window.

edit: The official addons site has a good listing of popular plugins, and a search tool (but it's not very good), you can find many themes on Deviant-Art(good and bad), and poking around the official forums can net you some useful-but-potentially-unstable addons.