Flash Sound for Dynamic Sites - Page 14

Final thoughts

This method to sonify web sites may seem a bit odd at first sight but, after you implement it, it will allow you to keep up with changes to the contents of a web site. We at Soundtown used a slight variation of it to sonify an entire web site where we were required to make as little changes to the HTML code as possible since HTML code was already finished when we started sonifying .

Notice that you only need to be aware of frames, referencing the JavaScript library in all the pages and add calls to sound functions inside event handlers. All of them easy tasks that don’t modify radically the HTML code.

As further enhancements I might suggest some simple error handling routines, checking for the Flash player before embedding a Flash movie, keeping an eye on the size of the Flash movies and detecting Internet Explorer on Macintoshes since this method won’t work with this combination of browser and platform (at least the Internet Explorer we have) due to the impossibility of scripting the Flash player inside IE for Mac and modifying the sound functions so you can uses multiple Flash Movies.

Don’t be afraid to experiment and remember to have fun while doing it. I certainly had a great time developing this.

Soundtown is Argentina´s leader in sound solutions for business and entertainment web sites. Born as a new division for Hit&Post, a twelve years old music production and sound post-production company for TV, radio and advertising; is currently developing business solutions that incorporate sound, voice and music, helping Internet companies to serve their customers better and generate revenues. Also, Soundtown is creating tools to take the design of interactive sound into the future.

Gonzalo Alustiza is head of development and technologies at Soundtown. After working many years as a systems consultant and designer and implementing several world-class ERP packages for Food and Beverages companies, he joined Soundtown to help bridge the gap among software developers, sound engineers and musicians.