Everyone knows to include a link into a page, but what I want to discuss today is how you can include some special links.
Phone calls
This is something cool and with the explosion of smart phones with which you can easily browse this is definitely to consider having on the mobile version of your website. Such a link will initiate a call on your mobile to a specified number. But here the things are a little bit more complicated, requiring different links for different phones. You can easily find how to create such a link consulting the
WURFL database and looking at the
wml_make_phone_call_stringproperty in the
wml_ui category.
Basically this is done as follows:
- callto:[phone_number]
- mainly appropriate for iPhone and Nokia phones
- wtai://wp/mc;[phone_number]
- mainly appropriate for Android phones
- tel:[phone_number]
- reported to work on most of the newest devices. If you want to have only one type of URI, use this one.
In the phone number you can use +(plus) sign for international numbers. What’s also interesting to know is that this can even work on a desktop if you have an application like Skype installed. So maybe it’s a good idea to have this on the classic/desktop website too.
Later update from comments. Another interesting phone link will be how to call ateleconferencing phone number. There you call a phone number and then you enter your conference code, usually followed by hash(#). To do this from a link you will need a pause after the phone number and this is done with , (comma), usually entered by a long press onstar(*). I tested this on Android and iOS and it works fine, but you usually need two pauses (,) between the phone number and conference code. Same way you can dial an extension line.
Examples
- callto:12345678
- call 12345678 on iPhone and Nokia
- wtai://wp/mc;12345678
- call 12345678 on Android
- wtai://wp/mc;+123456789
- call an international number on Android
- tel:12345678
- call 12345678 on most of the newer devices
- tel:12345678,,100200#
- join 100200 conference code on the conference line 12345678 on most of the newer devices
- tel:+12345678,,100200#
- join 100200 conference code on the international conference line +12345678 on most of the newer devices
SMS
From a web page you can open the SMS sending application on the user phone with a link like below:
sms:<phone_number>[,<phone-number>]*[?body=<message_body>]
Examples
- sms:12345678
- SMS to 12345678
- sms:12345678?body=Hello my friend
- SMS “Hello my friend” to 12345678
- sms:123456789,+123456789?body=Hello
- SMS to multiple phone numbers, including an international one
There is also an URI version for MMS starting with mms:. On some (mobile) browsers (devices) it is also reported to work smsto: and mmsto:, although I would recommend the first version.
iPhone/iPod/iTunes
When developing a website iPhone is definitely to be considered. You can include links to items in the iTunes store, such as movies, music or application. Apple provided for your convenience a web interface to create such links:
ITMS Link Maker. Just specify the country, the search keyowrds and what type of iTunes items. You will get a list of items and when you click one you will get the link. You can even get the link for an author. These links will both work on the desktop and iPhone.
Android market
Android is gaining market share as we speak. Nexus One was just released and in my opinion will beat iPhone. As you include links to iTunes, you can include links to applications in
Android Market.
market://search?q=<query>
The query can include keywords or can identify a specific application usingq=pname:your.package.name and then the link will be market://search?q=pname:your.package.name.
Ovi Store
Windows Marketplace
BlackBerry App World
Geolocation
Nowadays you cannot even imagine a world without maps and GPS. More and more contact pages include a map too. Nowadays smart phones usually include a map application and opening a map with your location in it would be quite nice for the user
geopoint:latitude,longitude
As simple as this and you know where to go.
Messengers
From a web site you can also interact with the messenger applications installed on your machine.
Yahoo Messenger
ymsgr:ACTION?USERNAME&m=YOUR+MESSAGE
The possible actions are
addfriend,
sendIM and
call. The message can, of course, be specified only for
sendIM action. The USERNAME should be
your.account@yahoo.com or
your.account@hotmail.com.
Example:
ymsgr:sendIM?beradrian&m=Hello – Say Hello in Yahoo Messenger.
Windows Messenger
msnim:ACTION?contact=USERNAME
The possible actions are
chat,
add (to add a contact),
voice (for voice call) and
video (for video call). The USERNAME should be
your.account@yahoo.com or
your.account@hotmail.com.
Example:
msnim:chat?contact=beradrian@yahoo.com – Chat with me in Windows Messenger.
Google Talk
gtalk:ACTION?jid=USERNAME&from_jid=YOURNAME
The possible actions are
chat and
call (for voice call). The USERNAME and YOURNAME should be
your.account@gmail.com. The parameter
from_jid is optional and it should be specified only if you use multiple accounts.
Example:
gtalk:chat?jid=beradrian@yahoo.com – Chat with me in Google Talk.
Skype
skype:USERNAME?ACTION
The possible actions are
chat,
add (to add a contact),
userinfo (to view a profile) and
voicemail (to leave a voicemail). The USERNAME is your Skype ID.
Example:
skype:chat?jid=beradrian – Chat with me in Skype.
There is also AIM, IRC and some others but we will not get into any other details for the moment.
Mail
It’s pretty easy to include a link for sending an email into your webpage. Basically it’s replacing the http scheme with mailto. So the link will look something like:
mailto:<email>[,<email>]*[?<arguments>]
Such a link will practically open the system application for sending emails (like Outlook or Thunderbird) and the message will be prepopulated with some values. As you can notice you can use multiple email addresses (To) separated by comma.
The possible arguments to be included are:
- subject
- the message Subject field
- cc
- the message CC field as a comma separated list of addresses
- bcc
- the message BCC field as a comma separated list of addresses
- body
- the message body. If you include a new line in your message you should include
%0A.
Examples
- mailto:nobody@wordpress.com
- the simplest mailto link
- mailto:nobody@wordpress.com,no.one@wordpress.com
- multiple email addresses
- “mailto:nobody@wordpress.com?subject=Testing mailto
- specify a subject
- “mailto:nobody@wordpress.com?subject=Testing mailto&cc=no.one@wrodpress.com
- specify a subject and CC
Just as a side note in the end, it’s better not to rely on this kind of mechanism for handling email on your website. A contact form that sends an email could be a better idea.
Happy linking!!!
