Embed Audio

Prior to adding audio to a website, it is wise to first think about questions like:

• What format will work with most platforms?

• Which format will produce the best quality with the smallest size?

• Which format will work on any Web server, on any html page?

• Which format is the simplest (and perhaps, least expensive) to implement?

Next, you need to think about what your computer will need to create audio files. In order for your computer to listen to audio it needs:

• Sound card

• Speakers

To create audio files it also needs:

• Software to record, play, edit, and compress

• Minimum amount of RAM required by the software

Now that you have a general idea of what your computer needs we can start with the lesson. First off, you must insert one sound clip into one of the pages of your site as well as insert one video into one of your pages. Instructions for embedding a video are on Part 2 of "BRIEFING". You are given permission to search for audio and video clips online but make sure they are appropriate.

Here are the steps:

1. In Dreamweaver, click Insert ->Media -> Plugin.

2. Locate the desired audio clip

3. The default settings will automatically adjust the size of the control tray 32X32 pixels. You can resize the control by dragging one of the resize handles, I find that 290X32 looks good on a website. When completed your music tray should look like this:

This type of media is known as an embedded plugin, which means that the plugin controller appears on the actual web page.

The next section of this lesson is on embedding video. Click here to go to PART 2 of this lesson.