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Introduction
Sounds can be used
to enhance your webpage
just as images can. But,
as with images, you should
be aware of how large
the sound file is. You'll
want good quality sound
but small file sizes.
Even with small files,
there will most likely
be a delay due to the
download time.
There are 2 types of
sound files that you can
use. These file types
are the wave (.wav) and
the midi (.mid).
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The
<bgsound> Tag
There are two tags
that you can use to add
sound to your webpage.
Both tags are very similar
to the <img>
tag. The first is the
<bgsound>
tag. This tag is the better
of the two tags I will
discuss but it has one
major drawback -- it can
only be used in Internet
Explorer. This tag can
only be used within the
<head> tag.
Here is how you would
use the <bgsound>
tag:
<bgsound
src="mysound.wav">
or
<bgsound
src="mysound.mid">
With the <bgsound>
tag, you can make your
sounds loop. Looping basically
means that when the sound
ends, it will start back
over again at the beginning.
To loop a sound, you would
use the loop
attribute.
Here is how you would
do it:
<bgsound
src="mysound.wav"
loop="3">
The above example would
cause the sound to loop,
or play, 3 continous times
and then it would stop.
You can also have the
sound loop continously
by using the value "-1".
There are two other attributes
that can be used with
the <bgsound>
tag. The balance
attribute directs how
the sound is divided between
the left and right speakers.
The value for this attribute
is any number between
-10,000 and +10,000. A
negative value will boost
the sound coming out of
the left speaker while
a positive value boosts
the right side. A value
of 0 means that the sound
will be equally balanced
when it comes out of the
speakers which is the
default value.
Here is how to use the
balance attribute:
Left Speaker Boost
<bgsound
src="mysound.wav"
balance="-3500">
Right Speaker Boost
<bgsound
src="mysound.wav"
balance="+5000">
The other attribute that
can be used is the volume
attribute. This attribute
defines how loud the sound
will be relative to the
volume that the user has
set on their computer.
The maximum volume is
0 and it is only as loud
as the volume set in the
users sound settings.
Adjustments to sound are
negative values as low
as -10,000.
Here is how you would
use the volume attribute:
<bgsound
src="mysound.wav"
volume="-100">
It should be noted that
most users will lose the
sound at a value that
is much higher than -10,000.
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The
<embed> Tag
The other tag that
can be used is the <embed>
tag. This tag is accepted
by both Internet Explorer
and Netscape Navigator.
This is how you would
use this tag:
<embed
src="mysound.wav">
Unfortunately, there
isn't an attribute to
loop the sound while using
the <embed>
tag.
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