As with any other technology, you first determine what you want to accomplish by adding a sound. Your sound should serve a clear and useful purpose or have an entertaining or instructional value. Web site developers primarily use one of three methods to add sound to a Web page: linking to an audio file, adding a background sound, or embedding an audio file. The simplest and easiest way to add sound to a Web page is through linking. The link can be any object, such as text, an image, or a table. The object is selected and then a link to a sound file is created. Clicking the link opens the user’s designated player, such as Windows Media Player, in a separate window. You might consider using the linking method, for example, to provide instructional enhancement.
If you want to appeal to novelty, a background sound can serve this purpose. A background sound starts to play as soon as the Web page opens in the browser. In most instances, when you add a background sound, keep the sound short, do not loop the sound, and do provide your visitor with an option to stop the sound.
Embedding a sound file integrates the audio into the Web page. The sound player, along with controls, is inserted directly into the Web page. This process lets Web site visitors choose whether they want to listen to the audio and how many times they want to hear it.
In the next steps, you add the colorado.wav background sound to the splash page. When the Web site visitor opens the page, the colorado.wav file plays in the background, and the visitor has no control over the sound.
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