Free Web Chatting - Built Into Your Mac

iChat is an application that comes packaged with OSX, but unless you’re actively looking for a new chat application, it’s often undiscovered or overlooked. It’s a versatile program that allows you to chat with other people who use several different messaging services, many of them free, and even allows you to video chat if you happen to have an iSight.

Today I’ll just go over the basics of what you need to use iChat, and we’ll explore tips and tricks for web chatting in the future.

Using iChat requires very little. You must have a computer running OSX, you’ll need an internet connection, and finally an account on some kind of messaging service, as will people that you’d like to chat with. These people don’t also need to use iChat just some software that allows them to log into the same service.

iChat supports chatting through five different services:

1. AOL Instant Messenger (AIM) - This type of account is free; you don’t need to have your internet hosted through AOL to sign up for one. You can download a copy of AOL’s chatting software (AIM 6.5), or you can just sign up for one of their accounts and use it in iChat instead.
2. Google Talk - This is a free service offered by Google. In fact, it’s integrated with the rest of your Google “identity” so if you already have a Gmail account or other Google account, you should be able to sign into Google Talk. If you ever use the chat feature embedded into Gmail’s webmail service, this is the same chat you can just use the iChat interface instead.
3. Jabber - This is another free messaging service. It’s not s widely spread as AIM and Google are, but if you happen to run into people you want to chat with who have Jabber accounts , iChat will support it.
4. .Mac - If you already have a .Mac account, you can use that account to sign into iChat and chat with other .Mac users or AIM account users. However, at $99 per year it’s certainly the lease economical option if all you want to do is chat.
5. Bonjour - This account is slightly different. Bonjour is an Apple technology that allows computers to communicate with other devices on a local network, and that type of connection can be leveraged for chatting with people in your local network. You won’t need an account specifically for this, you can just enable Bonjour chatting and other users in your network who have enabled Bonjour will automatically appear on your buddy list.

Once you have one of these accounts, and an internet connection, you’re set to go. You can launch iChat and set up your account. The first time you launch iChat, the program will walk you through setting up your account. If you need to go back and add other accounts or change information later, you can always access your account information in iChat→Preferences.

Once your account is set up, you can log in by changing your status in the Buddy List to “Available.”  You can then add buddies to your list (if you know their account name) by clicking the + button at the bottom of the buddy list (the image below is actually a composite image of a Bonjour buddy list and another service so that all configuration buttons can be seen).  If you link the buddy to your Address Book card for that person, their given name will even appear on the list instead of the online handle they’ve chosen for themselves.

Once you’re online and see your friends in the buddy list, indicating that they are online as well, you can simply double click their name to open a chat.  Type a message in the box, hit return, and you’re off and running.  If you’re a caveman, you might want to be wary of talking to reptilians online, however.