Auto Replace

First open the Auto Replace menu.
Settings -> Advanced -> Auto Replace menu.

Click the 'Add New' button.
Now you'll see *NEW* in the 'Text' column and EDIT ME in the 'Replace with' column.
Remove *NEW* from the 'Text' edit box and replace it with an acronym: e.g. lol, lmao, ty, yw, hi, bye etc.
Remove EDIT ME from the 'Replace with' edit box and replace it with the text: e.g. lol=Laughing Out Loud, ty=Thank You.
Use the 'Save' button to save your acronyms/talkers.



%B = Bold, %U = Underlined, %C = Color, %O = end of codes.
Always end your text in the replace menu with %O so you can type "normal" text after you typed your acronym/talker.

Now if you type an acronym (lol,ty,bye) it will replace it with the text you made in your replace menu.

You can find your acronyms/replace text in a file called replace.conf which is in ~/.xchat2.
Make sure you have "Interpret %C, %B as Color, Bold etc" checked in Preferences -> Input Box (older XChat versions). or type:

/set input_perc_color ON

I've made some talkers in a few colors to download and use, copy and paste them into autoreplace.conf in ~/.xchat2. Check the downloads page. :)



 

CTRL Codes

If you just want to type some colored or bold text in your channel you can also use the CTRL key codes (like in mIRC, press and hold the CTRL key then type K<colornumber>/B/U/O): CTRL+K (color), CTRL+B (bold), CTRL+U (underlined) and CTRL+O (end of codes).
E.g. to type colored text in yellow bold with a blue background you could type:

CTRL+BK8,2 Hello!

It will look like this in your channel:

Hello!

 

Color/Attribute buttons (Win32)

In XChat 2.8.7 and above (Windows only) it is possible to use Color/Attribute buttons in the topic bar and input box.
The buttons will show when you click in the topic bar or click the hidden button "|" on the right side of the input box.