Sound

Ta-Da!

In the same way that pictures can convey meaning, mood and message far more effectively and quickly than text, then so also can sound. Like images, the files used take time to download. However many sound files used on the web are larger, much larger than the average image file. A three minute piece of music at CD quality encoded in mp3 can take 30 seconds to download on a broadband connection, on a 56k modem it can take several minutes! For this reason it is wise to limit the use of sound on any website and to choose the type of sound and file format carefully.

The Sound of Silence

There is another aspect of using sound with a webpage; not everyone has a soundcard on their computer and therefore will not benefit from the additional dimension achieved through the use of sound, consideration should be given to whether this negates the reason for including sound. Further there are those who do not like to have sounds playing whilst they are viewing a page. If the sound is to continue for any length of time then there should be a means of stopping the 'noise' if the end user so wishes.

Formats and Compression Technologies.

Most sound file formats, even today with their advanced compression algorithms, are unable to reduce the file size to an acceptable level for users on dial up connections.

The main file formats in use on the internet today are:

Generally, the longer the sound will play for then the larger the file is that is to be downloaded. There are methods of reducing the size of the file, for instance; a mono file is almost half the size of a stereo file since it is only carrying information about one channel and not two. It is possible to reduce the sample rate of the file, however this will reduce the quality of the resultant sound. Choosing the right type of file is imperative to deliver the sound to the user with the minimum overhead and maximum effect.