HOWTO: Create iChat Links
I’ve always wanted to post or share my iChat link. But, couldn’t because of various obstacles. Either the email client didn’t know what to do with it or the web-based platform (in this case WordPress) didn’t.
There is a little known protocol ichat:// (much like http) which you can call from a URI. Example: ichat://geraldb28@mac.com (see? WordPress yanks the ichat:// part off and wraps it up in an http://)
THAT should have created a verbatim link. But, it didn’t. See, WordPress doesn’t play nice with that protocol (or at least recognize it and treat it with the respect it deserves… grumble, grumble).
So, I’ve tricked WordPress into accepting a different input but achieving my end goal. Wolf in sheep’s clothing, sort of. By going to http://www.tinyurl.com/ (see THAT created a link didn’t it!?) and plugging in my ichat://geraldb28@mac.com and creating a TinyURL… See!? That WORKS and you can simply click to launch iChat (if not already running) and voila! we can simply get on with our chit chat.
Share the joy. DIGG it. Whatever. I’m just glad to have taught myself something new today… even if the rest of you already knew how to do it. 
Tags: ichat, technology
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July 21, 2008 at 12:48 am
Hi, thanks for the tip. I googled this, found your blog and implented it right away!
April 24, 2011 at 5:24 am
why my ichat link doesn’t work in my iPhone4. my apple id is: raihanmazumder@apple.com & raihanmazumder@mac.com
Mohammad Raihan Mazumder
Yogyakarta, Indonesia
Mob: +6281228866622
Email: raihan_mazumder@yahoo.com