QuickStart
If you are one of those people that don't read manuals, you can just read this chapter and be on your way. Snak is designed to be accessible and easy to use, but it has a lot of features and you're likely to miss a few if you don't read the manual. Now, without further ado, on with the show:

When you first launch Snak it will perform an initial setup and make a list with all the IRC servers it knows about. While that is being done, you will see a progress bar.

Setup Assistant
After Snak is done creating the default settings, it will bring up the setup assistant, where you can choose the nickname you prefer on IRC, and set up a few important settings.

After that is done you will see a dialog, reminding you that it is a shareware program. Shareware means that you will eventually have to pay for it if you decide to keep using it.. 

In this dialog are also a line with helpful tips regarding features of the program. A different one is displayed each time the dialog is opened.

Joining Channels
Once you dismiss the shareware reminder dialog you will be able to join channels by selecting them in the Join Channel dialog. This comes up every time by default, but that can be turned off by unchecking the "Show on launch" checkbox.

If the channel that you want to join is in the favorite list, select it and press the Join button. Otherwise type it in the field, and optionally add it to the favorite list with the Add button before joining it. 

Since not all networks carry all channels, there may not be anyone in the channel when you join. In that case, select a different network in the network popup (DALnet in the picture) and try again.

Connecting
When you press Join Snak will attempt to connect to an IRC server and join the channel. To do so it uses the information in a connection record. This record contains name of the chosen server, the nickname to use when connecting and any optional actions to take when joined. 

Snak comes with 5 predefined records and you can also make another in the setup assistant. You can edit connection records in the connections window (cmd-K) if you want to change any information, or see the status of your connections.

When the connection is opened, Snak will open the channel window, and optionally a console window where you can see the progress of the connection. You can only type text and receive messages once the connection is fully open.

Joining Channels
If the IRC server accepted the connection, and let you join the channel, the channel window starts filling up with information.

You will notice the user list to the right of the main text field, as well as the input field below it. The user list can be closed and opened with cmd-U, or the User list menu item in the Windows menu. The input field will resize itself if you type more than one line.

The width of the nick column can be changed by placing the cursor between the nick column and text area, clicking and dragging the divider.

In the example above the nickname "DamnHippie" is too wide to be fully displayed so it is truncated.

If you have chosen the Shared windows option in the setup assistant, there can be multiple channels in the same windows which can be a great space saver. This and other options can be controlled in the Windows panel in the Preference window.

Configuring
The Preference window is dynamic - you do not need to save changes for them to be active. Just make the change and see it take effect immediately. 

Here the color panel is selected in order to see and change the color Snak uses for various kinds of messages.

The General panel contains checkboxes to customize the way the program reacts to specific events.

In the Channel panel you can specify what channel actions you want displayed, and you can select default font and size for channel text.

The Personal panel stores your real name and the default quit message that is displayed when you quit or close a connection. It also provides a field to enter the text that you want the program to return when someone asks for a ctcp userinfo or homepage.

Address Book
Snak contains an Address Book that is intended to store the snippets of information that you come across as you IRC. Someones real name, email address, favorite channel. . . .
To access the Address Book use the Windows/Address Book menu. Like the preference window, the Address Book window is dynamic and you do not need to save changes to preserve them. To store information just start filling out the fields. The most important and the only required field is the nick. As soon as you select another record, make a new record or close the window the program saves the changes. 

Channel List
If you want to see a channel listing, use the File/List Channels menu. That brings up the List channels window where you can set up criteria for the listing. You can specify that you want to see channels containing certain words but not others. You can specify that you want to see channels with at least 10 users but not more that 20.

Pressing OK will send the command off to the server. Be advised that on some servers, the List command will result in so much data being sent to you that the server will disconnect you . . . 

As soon as the server responds Snak will begin filtering the information based on the criteria that you specified. Once a valid channel is found, Snak will open a Channel List window and display the channel name and information. When the server is done listing the channels Snak will enable the Save button in the Channel list window and you can save the listing to a file. The Channel list window supports a Find and Find Again function that will let you search the found channels.