[Speckledstone]

I’m trying to put a sound file ‘download page’ together and my lack of HTML knowledge is causing me some problems. Since I’m very new to HTML, I’m trying to keep my pages W3C compliant - I figure its best to learn it correctly from the start, instead of having to relearn it the right way.

So, here’s what I’ve got so far...

I want to give the user an option to preview the sounds, before downloading them, without leaving the original page. I tried to use the OBJECT element to embed mp3s as the preview. As I see it, this has two main problems.
1. If I make a page with 50 sound files, those 50 mp3 samples need to be accessed / downloaded (sorry I’m probably not using the right term there) in order for the page to load. That could take quite a while, especially for dial-up.
2. To keep all the mp3s from playing automatically, I added this : autostart="false". Although it works for Netscape 7.02 and IE 5.1.5 running on OS 9.1, autostart is not a valid attribute and it didn’t work correctly from Windows 98 (I checked using Netscape and IE via Virtual PC).

If you want to see it, here it is : http://speckledstone.home.attbi.com/...udio_test.html

I thought about bending my rule on W3C compliance and making a separate page for Mac downloads, but that still doesn’t solve the first problem.

Does anyone have a suggestion that could solve my problem within the realm of HTML?

[Speckledstone]

One more thing...
As I see it, my only solution is to have direct links to the mp3s. If this is my only option, I would like your opinion. Should I force a new window to open for the preview, or should I leave it ‘as is’ and let the user use the ‘back’ button?

Example : http://speckledstone.home.attbi.com/...k_to_mp3s.html

[Simon Mundy]

Yep, I think you're on the right track to begin with. Just keep your page as a list of links, whereby you follow a link to either a 10-15 second 'preview' mp3 file which is low quality, or a download link to the 'full-size' mp3.

I would also launch each link as a new window to save to-ing and fro-ing between pages. Here's a wee bit of Javascript I use to make a pop-up that's friendly to both Javascript and Non-Javascript enabled browsers:

[php]
<script type="text/javascript" language="Javascript">
// <![CDATA[

function launchURL(url) {
scrx = screen.width;
scry = screen.height;
winWidth = (scrx > 800) ? 832 : 760;
winHeight = (scry > 600) ? 500 : 400;
winX = (scrx/2)-(winWidth/2);
winY = (scry/2)-(winHeight/2);
enlargementWin = open('','preview','directories=no,location=no,menu bar=no,status=yes,titlebar=no,toolbar=no,scrollbar s=yes,width='+winWidth+',height='+winHeight+',left ='+winX+',top='+winY+',screenX='+winX+',screenY='+ winY+',resizeable=no');
enlargementWin.moveTo(winX,winY);
enlargementWin.location=url;
enlargementWin.focus();
return false;
}

// ]]>
</script>

<a href="preview.html" target="preview" onclick="return launchURL('preview.html')">Listen to preview</a>
[/php]

It simply launches a pop-up window to a size you specify (winWidth/winHeight) and automatically centres it. Rather than force a URL of 'javascript:launchURL' like some sites, this allows the 'onclick' event to take over if the browser allows javascript, otherwise the bog-standard window will open with the link.

Hope this helps.

[godzookie2k]

Yeah, I'd say just have a link to a preview too, having 50 mp3's even short ones, that start being downloaded once you access the page is just begging for problems. Plus I reckon some browsers might just get overloaded and crash.

[Speckledstone]

Nice script Simon, that could come in handy. JavaScript doesn't seem as difficult as I thought. It looks like a decent working knowledge of Apple Script is more than enough of a foundation to learn JavaScript. I guess I'll check out some tutorials on the web and see what else I can do with it.

Thanks for the advice guys.

[KeyLimePi]

That is a nice script, Simon.

I know this won't help you much, Speckledstone, but I just wanted to mention my favorite 'sound preview' design. It's on the Flash site Flashkit where they have hundreds of free SFX and loops. The previews are all done in -- not surprisingly -- Flash, and next to each they give detailed info about the sample. Very well done. I use them whenever I need a sound.

Here is a sample of some of their listings (arcade sounds). Just click each little 'play' arrow to hear a low-res sample of each file.