Interface Usability
by Merien Q. Kunst

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Use of Sound: Music on Demand

With every release, Flash delivers better support for sounds and music. With Flash 5, the new support for MP3 import makes it even easier to balance quality sound with streaming and small file sizes. Sounds can be used to add effects to navigation elements, create cool background music loops, or to offer sound samples to visitors. But, because the Internet is still viewed by a lot of people without audio available on their systems, the best way to incorporate the sounds with your web creations is to make it passive. Even if your guests have sound on their system, it may not even be turned on. If the experience of your movie depends on the sound effects and music that come with it, tell everybody that they need to turn on their speakers. If you use stuff like a background loop, it’s thoughtful to make the sound optional before your visitor starts loading the (often large) music files into your Flash. That way those with sound-challenged systems won’t have to wait for it to download even though they have no way to enjoy it.

Always consider if Flash is the best way to offer your music items. In many cases, for example if you want to present a streaming video clip or offer downloads, other techniques may have better support.

Another thing that deserves mention is the volume of your sound clips. Test the audio elements in a movie with normal system volume, to ensure that it’s not too low, but on the other hand to ensure that it doesn’t cause hearing discomfort.

It’s tempting to use sound bytes as a way to improve navigation. For example, a button that tells you all about it’s functionality would be nice to add extra clarity to a menu. But, although this technique might be very useful (and impressive), don’t rely on it too much. As mentioned before, much of the Web population relies purely on the visual part of Websites.

Flash offers a great way to embed specific content into your Flash movie that can be sent directly to a users printer. A common example for this technique is a small Flash banner that sends a full-page advertisement to the printer when the user hits the print button in the movie. It’s a nice way to avoid cluttering web pages with sundry advertisement details, but it’s also a way to offer any single- or multi-page document (poster size images, spreadsheets, background details) with the click of a small button.

Unfortunately, Flash Printing is a functionality that’s quite new on the web, and it’s a functionality that can’t be properly explained with one or two words. So, if you choose to use this feature, make sure to give a clear indication of its function, with button text like: "Send the details of this product to my printer" or "Print a full-page version of this image."