Help requested for using Jabber/XMPP

[Charles E. Perkins]

Hello,

I regret being clueless.  I have tried a dozen ways to make
this work, but I have not yet been able to figure it out.

I have a gmail account.  Is that enough to get Jabber to
work?  If so, what server do I indicate?  what resource?

If not, can anyone recommend a Jabber server that works?
I tried several, all failing miserably.  I tried requiring SSL,
I checked the box to create a new account, I tried various
(numerous!) permutations.  I googled "starting Jabber" and
many other permutations.

Do I need to set up a specific Jabber account _before_
trying to get Pidgin to have access to the account?

Any help will be appreciated, even if it is only the suggestion
to go read an actually useful page on the web.  I've gone
through a lot of them, and up until now have stopped
short of installing other Jabber clients -- on the theory that
Pidgin probably is working just fine if I could just figure out
how to use it.

Once I somehow get my Jabber account configured into
my Pidgin client, I am _guessing_ that I should be able to
select the XMPP account as the correct protocol to use
when I make use of the "Add Buddy" feature.  Is this
correct?  Or do I have to do something more esoteric
and opaque to put Jabber-minded colleagues in my list
of buddies?

Thanks in advance,
Charlie P.