Adding Sound Files to your WEBPLUS Pages

WEBLUS has all the functions required to add multimedia files right in the application. These are accessed from the Insert menu. Simply select your file and add it to your page.

However, there are some things you need to know about sound files in particular, that can help speed things up for your site visitors.

Most people tend to insert WMV or MP3 files. These work just fine, but there are a few limitations. One of them is the skin used for displaying the player controls. The standard WEBPLUS controls do a neat job, but sometimes you may need to customise the look and feel of the controls to better suit your site. A better option may be to convert MP3 or WMV files into Flash files (swf’s). Flash files can be streamed so they normally start playing sooner. In many instances, Flash files are also smaller. But one of the great advantages is the flexibility of skin design. The skin and its controls are an integral part of the SWF file that gets created, and most applications let you choose from a variety of skins that can be completely customized in term of colour and style. Here is an example:

When using Flash files, as opposed to MP3 or WMV files, you should notice an appreciable difference in loading time, especially on dial-up connections. This is because Flash files can be made to stream, whereas MP3’s usually need to be fully loaded into the system before play starts.

There are many utilities on the Internet that can do the conversion for you. However, when converting you must remember to use the Insert/Flash function of WEBPLUS instead of the Insert/Sound function.