Skype Hacks

Chapter 4. Tweak and Tune Skype

Hacks 43–51: Introduction

In many ways, this chapter builds on the previous one. However, the emphasis here is even more on making Skype do the things you want—that is, on tweaking and tuning Skype in interesting ways. Indeed, sometimes tweaking it in ways—it must be said—that the engineers at Skype probably never intended! Think of it this way. This chapter’s goal is not only to make Skype work in interesting and novel ways, but also to stimulate your imagination and encourage you to experiment with Skype.

Make Calls from Your Web Browser

Configure Internet Explorer so that you can make calls directly from a web page or from the browser toolbar.

Works with: Windows version of Skype.

There are three ways in which you can make calls directly from within a web browser. The first method uses the URL prefix skype: (note the missing //, as this method won’t work if you include //) to control Skype from within a browser. The second method uses the callto:// URL prefix and can be used in a number of ways to make calls, including from your browser’s address bar or from a link embedded in a web page. The third method uses the Skype Toolbar, which is an add-on application for Internet Explorer (and is available for Microsoft Outlook as well) that you can download at http://www.skype.com/products/skypetoolbars/.

skype:

You’re probably familiar with URLs such as http://www.oreilly.com/. Now Skype has added its own type of URL, which looks like this: skype:echo123