You can also just type in the chat window:
/z for zone
/zde for german zone
/zfr for french zone
/w <name> for whsipering (names you have in your guild or friends list will autocomplete or shown in a list to choose from)
/g1 to /g5 for your guilds
/p for party
/s for say
/y for yelling
And check out this addon. It will remember your last used chat type (zone, guild, whisper, say, party, etc.) for each of your chat tabs:
http://www.esoui.com/downloads/info6...tTabBrain.html