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adding sound to websites...

web design dilema...

Krossfyter...
Welcome to the wonderful world of creating websites that work in (almost) all browsers and platforms.
I noticed this in your page ...
../untitled%20folder/sound.swf
That isn't good...try to name the folder without any spaces in the name so that you don't run into problems.
On the sound issue... it's your site and you can do whatever you want with it and you will definitely get feedback good and bad regarding the sound. The best thing to do is have a sound panel that allows the user to turn down the sound or stop it all together. On my site I use a sound panel that loads up to 10 tracks of streaming music dynamically but doesn't load that music unless someone clicks on it.
Using sound as background music should tie in with the whole theme of the site so that it "works"...so that it's not annoying. If you are trying to develop an "experience" for the viewer then the music shouldn't be annoying and should flow seamlessly with the site.
Another factor to consider is bandwidth...it should load fairly quickly for people on 56k connections since that is what most users have. Flash allows you to deliver what you want since most people have the Flash 5 plugin...you may have exported your flash movie as Flash 6....not as many users have the Flash 6 plugin as do the Flash 5 plugin so it's best to design for that unless you are doing something complex that only Flash 6 allows you to do.
You only have one track and don't loop it and your track doesn't sound like it can be looped seamlessly so I would pick a different track or find a section of that song that can loop without hickups or a noticeable beginning/ending.
If you want a sample let me know and I'll send it along.
-Gerry
 
thanx theranch


its impossible to have a website work on all browsers.. am i correct? i realize my website doesnt work in safari but it works in IE. can i have it work right in both of them without sacrificing anything? i noticed the scrollable layer deal doesnt work in safari for some reason.

also i have spaces in the sound location file because that was a spur of the moment test thing. if i wanted to keep it i would definity fix that. im going to take it out though.
 
Having a website "work" on all browsers is very possible...it just takes more work, and using standard HTML. Sometimes there are hacks and workarounds you have to worry about.

Any particular reason why you need a scrollable layer there? Have you looked into i-layers?
 
it can work...

rower_CPU is right... you can have a site as basic as yours work in all browsers.
 
Re: it can work...

Originally posted by theranch
rower_CPU is right... you can have a site as basic as yours work in all browsers.
Click to expand...

While yes you can have a site work in all browsers they will be difficulties. For example a bulleted list in dreamweaver has the difault spacing of no spaces between items in IE and one space in Safari. I am in the process of finishing up a site and it is really frustrating me.
 
Re: Re: it can work...

Originally posted by pdham
While yes you can have a site work in all browsers they will be difficulties. For example a bulleted list in dreamweaver has the difault spacing of no spaces between items in IE and one space in Safari. I am in the process of finishing up a site and it is really frustrating me.
Click to expand...

Have you looked at CSS for setting padding and margins for your lists?
 
You pretty much need to place the scripts folder it gives you in your main directory, and then link to it in the head tag, then refer to your floating layer with the right id. You'll have to get into the code to do it.

Let me know if you want more specific info.
 
This is a link I found to a really helpful tutorial for making sound work in Flash... gives you the code for all the buttons etc:

http://www.kennybellew.com/

I've been making a site for a musician (so he MUST have sound - but it's like an MP3 player, people only have to listen if they want to) and this tutorial helped me so much. It's awesome.
 
Originally posted by andrewlandry
it's a free country and all, but damn i hate websites with sound. at the very least, learn how to put an on/off switch on the thing... i felt i had to comment because unexpected sound on websites is really the most annoying "feature" of web browsing.
Click to expand...

I agree with the unexpected sound issue that you raise.

I do think, though, that certain Oral History websites have put sound to very interesting and powerful effect: letting people's memories and recollections speak for themselves, rather than being transcribed into text which can remove emotion, intonation and meaningful periods of silence from the historical record.

One of the greatest assets of the web is its capacity as a multi-media resource: still and moving images, text and, increasingly, sound - all controlable by the visitor to the site. When used properly and appropriately, these features can combine to produce an experience that, certainly, goes well beyond that of an academic text (the traditional home of oral history).

Lets not do away with web-sound altogether, but think of how to improve its use and deployment: perhaps making sound more controlable by users with on/off switches, certainly volume sliders, etc. With any luck, by sorting out some of these issues we may experience meaningful sound more deeply integrated into web-page designs in the future.

- p
 
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