ralphjohns.co.uk/

Historical Document

These pages have sat here since 2008 with no update. In that time the AIM servers have been closed down (2017) and iChat has been superseded by Messages. That effectively make this a sort of Historical Document of how it worked.

I will make attempts to renew and refresh Links to either the most current site or use the Way Back Machine Archive so that people can at least look at what was used. I will make Edit Notes on this and on those where I can find no link to replace the older one as I go through the document.

iChat Windows

iChat In Pictures >> You are in folder 4_iChat Windows >> Page: Bonjour List

2[15]

2 Bonjour Buddy List

02-10-2006

I have kept this as the Second Picture in the series as historically in versions 1 and 2 it was the second Buddy List and in version 3 it remians the Second one with a Jabber account added in third place. In iChat 4 and later the Buddy Lists can be dragged in to the order you want (Accounts Pane in Preferences) but apart from the Original Contact Testers that I collected and listed (I asked them permission) I know of very few people who really expanded their logged in Accounts.

If this window is Open and you are Logged into Bonjour (Rendezvous on iChat 1 & 2) then this will display the other Mac Users logged in on other computers on your LAN or at least the same Subnet if a large LAN.

It displays the names they have in their Address Books. This means if you have two Macs and have called yourself by the same name on both, much like the top picture, the second picture here (One is on the G4 and the "Buddy" is me on my MacBook Pro) then you can have problems.

It is better that at least one Address Book entry (at the My Card) lists the name differently like this second picture where I have called myself Ralph G4 in the Address Book on my G4/1Ghz Dual.

This name can not be toggled between a Real Name and a Screen Name like the AIM ones (or the Jabber ones in later version of iChat) as the Bonjour Account only lists the one name for your Buddies.

Next:- Jabber Buddy List

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Created with JAlbum 4.0.6

© 2005 Ralph Johns: Edited 24/9/2005, 5/5/2006
Updated September 2006
Updated October 2008. Reviewed and Updated to HTML 5 October 2024

Information Block

This site is about iChat from Version 1 through to iChat 5.x.x
Mostly this is kept as an Historical Document. Some small tense changes have been made but the content is by and large untouched.

It has a mixture of basic info and problem solving help.

The sections below will change for Specifics about info on the page on view

Options to This Page

To the right you can resize or colour the page as well as choose one of three Fonts.

About This Page

Basically to say there is a Bonjour (Rendezvous in iChat 1 & 2) Buddy list and what the differences are between it and the AIM or Jabber ones.

The biggest thing to understand it is displays the Real Name you have in your Address Book to your Buddies on the LAN and vice versa. So as I point out if you have two Macs and have yourself as Joe Smith as the User on both, that is what will be displayed as the Buddy on both and iChat can not always resolve this.

Change your Address Book Entry on at least one computer (or create a new Mac User on one for testing)

Compatibility

Much of this page has been altered to be as HTML 5 compatible as possible. This may cause issues with any of the Browser below.

I have tested in Safari 18.1, Firefox 130.x and 131.0, Vivaldi 6.9.3447.48 and iCab 6.2.3 (All Mac Browsers) I don't have access to a PC let alone multiple browsers to test on.

Previously confirmed to work with Win/IE 5.5 and later (should work in 5.0, but not confirmed), Firefox 2, Safari 3, Opera 9, iCab 3.02 and later, Mac/IE 5, Netscape 6 and later

Old browsers (IE version 4 or earlier, Netscape 4 or earlier) may only see a text-based page which, while not the prettiest option, is still entirely usable.