How to add clickable Skype links inside Second Life and elsewhere |
Earlier today I read Phil Wolff’s post on new chat functions inside Second Life (SL) at Skype Journal (emphasis mine):
URLs in chat and IM are now clickable links. Supports http://, https://, secondlife:// (hmmm, wish skype: links were clickable in 2L)
I thought, hey, that’s a relatively easy fix and whipped up some code on one of our shorter domains. After testing, I looked up Phil on Skype chat and told him about the function. He thought it was “neat” and asked if I would add other parameters for clickable text chat, adding other people to Skype list and viewing the Skype userinfo of a given name. When I got a few minutes, I added that functionality. He said something about blogging about this at Skype Journal but then went dark in our conversation and I didn’t see anything when I kept refreshing so I whipped up this how-to post to share here.
Format of Skype http links
The following will work in any chat program that supports http: links, not only Second life. Here is the format where SKYPENAME is the Skype username (don’t forget to start with the http:// part):
Call someone on Skype:
tduri.com/s-SKYPENAME
Add someone to your Skype contact list:
tduri.com/sa-SKYPENAME
Begin a text chat with someone on Skype:
tduri.com/st-SKYPENAME
View someone’s Skype user info:
tduri.com/su-SKYPENAME
The picture at the top of this post shows how to use this with my Skype name (tdavid). Feel free to share this with your friends and start using it in Second Life and other chats that don’t support the skype:// protocol directly. I’m sure it will be obsoleted in a future version of Skype, but in the meantime it’s a workaround.
Related Posts- Skype 1.1 (BETA) contains group IM chat
- Accidense?
- 10 (deadly sins) ads in a single RSS feed post, get out of here
Clickable links for Skype inside Second Life
Today I whipped up a quick solution for adding clickable Skype links for chats that support http:// but do not support the skype: protocol.
Trackback by VTOR - Virtual TO Reality — November 30, 2006 @ 11:17 pm
[…] TDavid: How to Add Clickable Skype Links inside Second Life and Elsewhere - “I whipped up this how-to post to share here.“ […]
Pingback by Jeff Barr’s Blog » Links for Friday, December 1, 2006 — December 1, 2006 @ 8:56 am
Hi TDavid.
Thanks for your help on this! Ive been wanting to make a tshirt with this functionality.
I am an educator in Seoul, and I am part of a group called webheads.. Id like to create a tshirt I could give to them with their custom skypenames in the script - but I am worried about overloading your server– I have a server of my own (a domain host) - can you send me the php or whatever you used to make this code work? id love to use it - cuz then my students could get a hold of me easily
thanks so much!
Comment by Fire Centaur — December 1, 2006 @ 12:53 pm
Hello Fire Centaur - thank you for thinking about that, but I’m not too concerned about server usage at this time. We’ve run our own short URL service since 2004 (tdurl.com) which uses very little server resources and this program is along the same lines. We’re not using virtual hosting or some $5/month hosting deal, we use multiple dedicated servers for our business.
There is zero impact on the server until/unless clicked, so go ahead and incorporate into your t-shirts, especially if you are giving them away
Please drop me in SL and share your creation. You can see my SL name in the screenshot above.
Comment by TDavid — December 1, 2006 @ 1:07 pm