Adding Audio: embedding
Sound on a web page can take a couple of forms: event sounds (button states), downloadable links & embedded music. The focus of this page is embedding a sound file to play in the background.
Here's what you'll get at the end of this tutorial: Page Sound:
Using Dreamweaver® 8, follow these steps to embed audio into a web page.
1. From the Insert Bar, choose Common & the arrow next to Flash.
2. Click on the arrow & choose the Plugin option at the bottom of the list.
3. Choose the appropriate sound file.
* not all sound file formats will work on all browsers. I suggest
importing audio into Flash® 8 so it may be exported in a more
universally readable format.
4. And the Plugin icon appears on the page wherever the cursor was.
5. With the Plugin icon selected, the Property Inspector looks like this.
And you're done. Preview the page & the sound file will begin to play in the background.
On the User Experience side, forcing someone to listen to an audio clip over & over can drive away even the most dedicated user. For this reason, it is important to allow the user some control over this. At the very least, allow them to turn the sound off if they choose. Keep in mind they can also turn it back on, and it will be on by default whent the page loads.
6. The size of the plugin icon determines what controls show for the embedded audio file. Sizing this like so will limit their visibility to just the Pause/Play button. Label this so users know what it is. The example at the top of this page is done this way.
* the player control icons won't appear in the Dreamweaver® 8 window, but they will in the browser. Remember to test your file format used in each browser you intend to support.