DLX Design

Explanation

Skype is a great program. The internet phone call software has changed the way a lot of businesses work and stay in contact with their employess. However, as good as Skype is, it’s not without it’s small problems. Especially if you’re a web developer.

When a user installs Skype, they will also install, possibly unwittingly, plugins for both Internet Explorer and Firefox. These plugins scan the web page currently being viewed and convers all numbers it finds that it thinks are phone numbers and converts them to links that automatically call the number when clicked. If you have Skype installed, the following number will most likely be turned into a clickable link…

+353870000000

It’s useful functionality, but it can play havoc with a webpage design, especially if the matched number is not actually a phone number. To deal with this problem, I created the killSkype jQuery plugin. This plugin takes the number you don’t want to be “Skyped” and renders it in such a way that Skype will ignore it when it’s doing its thing. i.e.

+353870000000

How to use

Simply download the plugin at the link below, include it in your page and then use the javascript code below to prevent Skype from hijacking your pages layout.

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   $(selector).killSkype()

e.g.

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<script type="text/javascript">
$(document).ready(function() {
    $('div.dont_skype').killSkype();
});
</script>
 
<div class="dont_skype">00441214124124</div>

Download plugin (includes readable and packed versions): http://dlx-design.com/plugins/killSkype.0.4.0.zip
jQuery Plugins project page: http://plugins.jquery.com/project/killSkype

Comments and critisms appreciated and encouraged.