Net4TV Voice: Putting Sound in PageBuilder

Feature

Putting Sound in PageBuilder

By Beth Candy
(December 5, 1999)

The Scrapbook is your File Manager. File Managers are used to store your sound, image or text files. Currently the only files you can upload to your Scrapbook are image files. We cannot upload sound files to our Scrapbooks.

Optimally, webmasters should always link to their own file managers (Scrapbooks). This is called Relative Linking. However, the only way to have sound play on your PageBuilder site is to link to a sound file on another server. This is called Absolute Linking.

Let's think of linking as using an electrical extension cord. You do not have to get permission from yourself to use an extension cord to light your own outdoor Christmas lights. You are paying the electric bill and you make the decisions. This would be an analogy of Relative Linking.

But you would have to get permission from your neighbor to use their outdoor electrical outlet for your Christmas lights. Even if they aren't home. Especially if they don't know the outdoor outlet exists. Even if you know for a fact that utilities are included in their rent and they don't pay the electric bill. Yes, even if they are rich and can afford to pay your bill. This would be an analogy of Absolute Linking.

Linking is an expense like electricity is an expense. Homeowners pay electric bills and Homepage-owners pay bandwidth bills. PageBuilders need to be aware that their absolute linking is costing someone money. While we are waiting for WebTV to give us sound file storage in our PageBuilder, we can link to others. Before we link we must either ask permission or read the help/faq/disclaimer/instruction sections on web sites to see if permission is granted and what is required in return for this service. Credit, or a link back is sometimes requested.

After we have found a generous web site that gives us permission to link to their sound files, we need to write the HTML code. HTML code is read by browsers. Think of a browser as a pair of glasses you wear to see web sites. We are all wearing WebTV designer eyewear (using the WebTV browser). There are lots of designer eyewear but the most popular are Microsoft and Netscape. These glasses (browsers) all see things differently. They have tunnel vision- they see what they want to see and ignore all else. For example, Microsoft sees the "bgsound src" tag, but Netscape doesn't. We should all see things the same way, but solving that problem would be as easy as solving any war. For now, we will just have to learn how each browser sees things and decide if we want them to see us or not.

WebTVers Have Two Ways

WebTV users have two ways to put sound in their Page Builders. The first thing you need is the URL (address) of a sound file. I went to:

http://www.geocities.com/bethcandy

and selected this sound file:

http://www.geocities.com/bethcandy/0042.html

The first way to put sound in your Page Builder is to use the Microsoft tag:

All I did was put the file name inside of this tag:

When your site is downloaded, this song will automatically play. If you want the file to play over and over, add this attribute inside the tag: loop="infinite"

Also, you can change the infinite to a number, such as "2" for it to play 2 times or "3" for it to play 3 times and stop.

The 2nd way is to use the Netscape tag:

When I put the of the URL (address) of the sound file, it looks like this:

As this is written (above) the sound file will not automatically play. A speaker image will show for the user to click on. You can, however, use this tag to automatically play by adding the attribute: autostart="true"

And if you want the sound to play over and over again, add this attribute: loop="true"

Why do Netscape and Microsoft use different html commands for sound? Well, because they want you to select their Browser. Computer users must select a browser and can only hear the compatible sound file. Aren't we lucky that we can hear either? If you want to please everyone, you can use both tags at the same time! First use the Netscape embed tag:

Your Netscape friends browser will see this tag and play it. Now you will write:

I guess you figured out that the above tag means "for the browser who can't see embed tags." So, write the bgsound tag after the noembed

The noembed tag has a closing tag to tell the browser it's done:

</noembed>

Here is the whole ball of wax:

Click on Image or Word to Hear

Giving your visitors the choice to select whether they want to hear your sound file or not is a wonderful option. It's not always a question of compatible taste in music. Sound files take time to download. Older browsers or computers, or WebTVers having a slow day are often inconvenienced by the added wait. If the speaker icon created by the embed tag does not thrill you, you can use another image. Here's how:

You would remove the word, soundfile, in the first tag (but leave the quotes) and replace with the actual URL of your soundfile. It will start with http:// and end with either .mid or .wav (Sound files that end in html will not work with this code.) You would remove the 3 letters URL (but leave the quotes) in the second tag and replace with the actual URL (address) of an image. The first tag makes anything written after it clickable. You can write a word or words, or you can write the code for an image. Any and all that comes after <a href="URL"> will be clickable and taken to the web site or hear the sound specified.

The Second tag is the HTML code to make an image appear on a web page. <img src="URL"> is seen by every browser. To get the URL of your scrapbook image:

The image must be on a published page.
Goto:
http://transload.starblvd.net/ts.shtml
Type in the published page URL
Press the "extract" button"
You will see your image and its URL written above it.

The third tag is a closing tag. The </a> tag stops the clickability.

One Song Throughout Site

You will need to create two pages. One page is the Sound Page and the other is a Frames Page.

Sound Page

To create a page to put your background sound on:

Click on "create"
Click on a page style (same as your web site page style)
Click on "Add an item"
Select "text"
Type in your HTML sound code.

For a very longwinded and most proper way to add sound, and especially if you want to please all PC users, here's a tutorial.

For example:

<bgsound src="http: //www.angelfire.com/pa3/candy/images/sound29.mid">

Press "Done"
Press "publish"
Title it.
Press "continue"
Press "Publish"
Press Done.

Frames Page

Now you will create a Frames page that has two pages in it- your web site and your sound page.

Click on create
Select the same background (for uniformity)
Click on "Add an item."
Select "text"
In the large textbox, type:

<frameset rows="*,1%"> <frame src="http://community.webtv.net/webtvname/page1"> <frame src="http://community.webtv.net/webtvname/page2"> </frameset>

So in my Frameset, the top page is my web site. The asterisk says it can take up whatever space it needs. The bottom page is my sound page. I have directed that it takes up 1% of the bottom space.

Instead of webtvname/page1 you would be typing in your webtv name and the title of your web site. Instead of webtvname/page2 you would be typing in your webtv name and the title of your sound page.

Mission complete! This is a whole new page. You would use this new Frames page as your starting point.

Play 2 Different Sound Files

If you would like to have two different sound files play on a single page, you can use any of the usual methods (the bgsound or embed tags) and then have a meta tag play a sound file. For example, you might already have this tag on your page:

And then add this tag:

The 60 in the above code is saying that 60 seconds after the page has loaded, start playing this sound file. (The other song started playing as soon as the page downloaded.) You would have to time your sound file to determine when you want the 2nd one to begin.

You would remove the

<http://www.angelfire.com/pa3/candy/images/sound1.wav>

of course, and put in the URL of the sound file you want. Let's take a careful look at the meta tag:

There is no quote in front of http. and there is a semicolon (not a colon) after the number. These two things are often overlooked. Meta tags should be entered in the "Head" of a document. The best we can do is put it in as item #1.

Common Errors

Common errors in writing HTML code, is not using the quotes or only using one quote (e.g., the beginning quote but not the end quote). Another error is a typographical error. You need to double check that each letter is not only correct, but is also the correct case (e.g., upper or lower case).

The most common error is spacing. The URL (address) of a sound file begins with http:// and ends with "dot" something; .mid .au .wav, etc. There are no spaces in an address. Sometimes it appears as though there might be, because a long address wraps around to the next line. It is important to remember that once you start writing the address part of your code that you never use the return key or the space bar. Keep typing and allow WebTV to wrap it around for you. Here's an example of an address:

http://www.geocities.com/bethcandy/0039.html

Keep in mind that while there is never a space in the URL (address) part of the code, there are spaces in the code. The 3 places there are spaces in writing HTML sound code:

between bgsound and src.
between embed and src.
after the end quote, if there is an attribute (e.g., loop="true").

Here's an example of code and address together. The only space is the one between bgsound and src:

To troubleshoot you can break down the areas into checking the address of the sound file, and then checking the HTML code. You can write perfect code, but if the URL is incorrect, it will never play.

One of the most frustrating errors is the one not visible. Sometimes when we cut and paste HTML code and addresses, we paste an invisible space. The invisible space is at the end of a line and causes an address or code to break up. If you have checked your code and see there are no errors, you can check for invisible spaces. This is how:

Go to the front of the second line with your cursor.
Look at the end of your first line. Note the character (e.g., the letter R).
Gently press your delete key once.
Did you delete the last letter of line one? Did you delete that letter R?
If you did, then replace it.
If you did not, then you deleted an invisible space.
If you deleted an invisible space, press your delete key again until you have deleted the letter R (R was only an example of what could be that last letter on line one). Replace the letter as soon as you delete it.
Continue to the front of subsequent lines until you have deleted all invisible spaces.

Inserting HTML in PageBuilder

To insert this or any HTML code into your Page Builder:

Go to your Page Builder Index.
Click on the page you want to add HTML to.
Click on "Change page"
Click on "Add an item"
Select "text"
Type your HTML code into the large rectangular box.
You will see on the lower left hand corner what item number this is on your page. You have the option to move it up.
Press "Done."
Press "Publish" on left sidebar.
Important: The "Publish" button on the left sidebar is actually a "save" button. It saves any changes you made to your page.
Mission Complete!

with love from Beth

Christmas Sound Files for the PageBuilder

Beth's Help Pages

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