diff --git a/program/include/rcube_html_page.php b/program/include/rcube_html_page.php
index d026444be..fffe49094 100644
--- a/program/include/rcube_html_page.php
+++ b/program/include/rcube_html_page.php
@@ -284,7 +284,6 @@ class rcube_html_page
         $output = preg_replace_callback(
             '!(src|href|background)=(["\']?)([a-z0-9/_.-]+)(["\'\s>])!i',
             array($this, 'file_callback'), $output);
-        $output = str_replace('$__skin_path', $base_path, $output);
 
         // trigger hook with final HTML content to be sent
         $hook = rcmail::get_instance()->plugins->exec_hook("send_page", array('content' => $output));
diff --git a/program/include/rcube_template.php b/program/include/rcube_template.php
index 81dbb3d79..0fbd9dfac 100644
--- a/program/include/rcube_template.php
+++ b/program/include/rcube_template.php
@@ -528,6 +528,7 @@ class rcube_template extends rcube_html_page
     {
         $GLOBALS['__version'] = Q(RCMAIL_VERSION);
         $GLOBALS['__comm_path'] = Q($this->app->comm_path);
+        $GLOBALS['__skin_path'] = Q($this->config['skin_path']);
         return preg_replace_callback('/\$(__[a-z0-9_\-]+)/',
 	    array($this, 'globals_callback'), $input);
     }