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I want to mark up a phone number as callable link in an HTML document. I have read the microformats approach, and I know, that the tel: scheme would be standard, but is quite literally nowhere implemented.
Skype defines, as far as I know, skype: and callto:, the latter having gained some popularity. I assume, that other companies have either other schemes or jump on the callto: train.
What would be a best practice to mark-up a phone number, so that as many people as possible with VoIP software can just click on a link to get a call?
Bonus question: Does anyone know about complications with emergency numbers such as 911 in US or 110 in Germany?
Cheers,
Update: Microsoft NetMeeting takes callto: schemes under WinXP. This question suggests, that Microsoft Office Communicator will handle tel: schemes but not callto: ones. Great, Redmond!
Update 2: Two and a half years later now. It seems to boil down to what you want to do with the number. In mobile context, tel: is the way to go. Targeting desktops it's up to you, if you think your users are more Skype people (callto:) or will more likely have something like Google Voice (tel:) installed. My personal opinion is, when in doubt use tel: (in line with @Sidnicious' answer).
Update 3: User @rybo111 noted, that Skype in Chrome has meanwhile jumped on the tel: bandwagon. I cannot verify this, because no machine with both at hand, but if it's true, it means we have finally a winner here: tel:
800
Href=tel: creates the call link. This tells the browser how to use the number. “Tel: 123-456-7890 “creates the HTML phone number. The number within the quotes is the number it will call.
It is common to write phone numbers as (0xx) yyyyyyy, where xx is the area code. The 0 prefix is for trunk (long-distance) dialing from within the country. International callers should dial +92 xx yyyyyyyy.
The tel: scheme was used in the late 1990s and documented in early 2000 with RFC 2806 (which was obsoleted by the more-thorough RFC 3966 in 2004) and continues to be improved. Supporting tel: on the iPhone was not an arbitrary decision.
callto:, while supported by Skype, is not a standard and should be avoided unless specifically targeting Skype users.
Me? I'd just start including properly-formed tel: URIs on your pages (without sniffing the user agent) and wait for the rest of the world's phones to catch up :) .
Example:
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