diff -r 266df6d5ed73 -r 1a4b9b9fe2b0 QTfrontend/ui/widget/chatwidget.cpp
--- a/QTfrontend/ui/widget/chatwidget.cpp	Wed Mar 20 09:13:05 2013 +0400
+++ b/QTfrontend/ui/widget/chatwidget.cpp	Wed Mar 20 23:18:46 2013 +0100
@@ -368,15 +368,43 @@
     return QString("<span class=\"nick\">%1</span>").arg(Qt::escape(nickname));
 }
 
+const QRegExp HWChatWidget::URLREGEXP = QRegExp("(http://)?(www\\.)?((hedgewars\\.org|code\\.google\\.com|googlecode\\.com|hh\\.unit22\\.org)(/[^ ]*)?)");
 
-void HWChatWidget::onChatString(const QString& str)
+bool HWChatWidget::containsHighlight(const QString & sender, const QString & message)
 {
-    onChatString("", str);
+    if ((sender != m_userNick) && (!m_userNick.isEmpty()))
+    {
+        QString lcStr = message.toLower();
+
+        foreach (const QRegExp & hl, m_highlights)
+        {
+            if (lcStr.contains(hl))
+                return true;
+        }
+    }
+    return false;
 }
 
-const QRegExp HWChatWidget::URLREGEXP = QRegExp("(http://)?(www\\.)?(hedgewars\\.org(/[^ ]*)?)");
+QString HWChatWidget::messageToHTML(const QString & message)
+{
+    QString formattedStr = Qt::escape(message);
+    // link some urls
+    formattedStr = formattedStr.replace(URLREGEXP, "<a href=\"http://\\3\">\\3</a>");
+    return formattedStr;
+}
 
-void HWChatWidget::onChatString(const QString& nick, const QString& str)
+void HWChatWidget::onChatAction(const QString & nick, const QString & action)
+{
+    printChatString(nick, "* " + linkedNick(nick) + " " + messageToHTML(action), "Action", containsHighlight(nick, action));
+}
+
+void HWChatWidget::onChatMessage(const QString & nick, const QString & message)
+{
+    printChatString(nick, linkedNick(nick) + ": " + messageToHTML(message), "Chat", containsHighlight(nick, message));
+}
+
+void HWChatWidget::printChatString(
+    const QString & nick, const QString & str, const QString & cssClassPart, bool highlight)
 {
     QSortFilterProxyModel * playersSortFilterModel = qobject_cast<QSortFilterProxyModel *>(chatNicks->model());
     if(!playersSortFilterModel)
@@ -387,58 +415,15 @@
     if(!players)
         return;
 
-    if (!nick.isEmpty())
-    {
-        // don't show chat lines that are from ignored nicks
-        if (players->isFlagSet(nick, PlayersListModel::Ignore))
-            return;
-    }
+    // don't show chat lines that are from ignored nicks
+    if (players->isFlagSet(nick, PlayersListModel::Ignore))
+        return;
 
     bool isFriend = (!nick.isEmpty()) && players->isFlagSet(nick, PlayersListModel::Friend);
 
-    QString formattedStr = Qt::escape(str.mid(1));
-    // make hedgewars.org urls actual links
-    formattedStr = formattedStr.replace(URLREGEXP, "<a href=\"http://\\3\">\\3</a>");
-
-    // link the nick
-    if(!nick.isEmpty())
-        formattedStr.replace("|nick|", linkedNick(nick));
-
-    QString cssClass("msg_UserChat");
+    QString cssClass = (isFriend ? "msg_Friend" : "msg_User") + cssClassPart;
 
-    // check first character for color code and set color properly
-    char c = str[0].toAscii();
-    switch (c)
-    {
-        case 3:
-            cssClass = (isFriend ? "msg_FriendJoin" : "msg_UserJoin");
-            break;
-        case 2:
-            cssClass = (isFriend ? "msg_FriendAction" : "msg_UserAction");
-            break;
-        default:
-            if (isFriend)
-                cssClass = "msg_FriendChat";
-    }
-
-    bool isHL = false;
-
-    if ((c != 3) && (!nick.isEmpty()) &&
-            (nick != m_userNick) && (!m_userNick.isEmpty()))
-    {
-        QString lcStr = str.toLower();
-
-        foreach (const QRegExp & hl, m_highlights)
-        {
-            if (lcStr.contains(hl))
-            {
-                isHL = true;
-                break;
-            }
-        }
-    }
-
-    addLine(cssClass, formattedStr, isHL);
+    addLine(cssClass, str, highlight);
 }
 
 void HWChatWidget::addLine(const QString & cssClass, QString line, bool isHighlight)
@@ -512,6 +497,9 @@
 
     emit nickCountUpdate(chatNicks->model()->rowCount());
 
+    if (!isIgnored)
+        printChatString(nick, QString("*** ") + tr("%1 has joined").arg(linkedNick(nick)), "Join", false);
+
     if (notifyNick && notify && (m_helloSounds.size() > 0))
     {
         SDLInteraction::instance().playSoundFile(
@@ -521,9 +509,19 @@
 
 void HWChatWidget::nickRemoved(const QString& nick)
 {
+    nickRemoved(nick, "");
+}
+
+void HWChatWidget::nickRemoved(const QString& nick, const QString & message)
+{
     chatEditLine->removeNickname(nick);
 
     emit nickCountUpdate(chatNicks->model()->rowCount());
+
+    if (message.isEmpty())
+        printChatString(nick, QString("*** ") + tr("%1 has left").arg(linkedNick(nick)), "Leave", false);
+    else
+        printChatString(nick, QString("*** ") + tr("%1 has left (%2)").arg(linkedNick(nick)).arg(messageToHTML(message)), "Leave", false);
 }
 
 void HWChatWidget::clear()