Updated: 24/9/05; 10:35:09

David Davies' Radio Weblog

 Friday, July 12, 2002

Figured out that you can create a URL that links to an AOL Instant Messenger account. Clicking on the URL link opens a local AIM client providing there's an AIM client installed on the user's machine. The format is

aim:goim?screenname=yourscreenname&message=Your+message+here

where 'yourscreenname' is, wait for it, your AIM screen name. You can even create a default message by entering it after the '&message=' but remember to URL encode any special characters such as the space character (encoded to + or %20). A useful guide to all special character encodings can be found here.

There are a number of instant messenger clients and protocols out there but I chose AIM because it's likely to be compatible with Apple's new iChat client.

Posted 11:41:53 PM - comment []
 Friday, July 5, 2002

I'll be speaking at a CETIS interoperability meeting on Monday if anyone's free. Sorry for the short notice.
Posted 9:44:09 PM - comment []