playing music across pages

[gnarl]

Hello all,

I'm developing a site in PHP4 for a music artist, who wants music to
play across all their pages. I have loaded a simple flash applet to
play the music, but every time the visitor to the site moves to a
different page the music starts again. The artist would like the music
to play continuously.

I can only think of three possible ways to solve this, and I am not
happy with any of them.

1) Use frames - but this will wreck my lovely CSS layout
2) Open the player in another window - but this has issues with popup
blockers, and really I would prefer it all to be on screen at the same
time.
3) Re-design the whole site in Flash - I don't have time for this
right now.

Does anyone here have any other suggestions?

Or, if you were developing this site, which would you choose and why?

[Dylan Parry]

gnarl wrote:

Or, if you were developing this site, which would you choose and why?

I wouldn't choose any of them. I would instead explain how music playing
on a website is both annoying and tacky. I would suggest to them that if
the visitor was already listening to music, as I for example often am,
how they would probably be pissed off by the unwanted music from a website.

Have you suggested that they alternatively allow the visitors to
download clips to listen to rather than have it forced upon them?

--
Dylan Parry
http://electricfreedom.org | http://webpageworkshop.co.uk

Listening to: Genesis - In The Cage

[Sandman]

In article <11************ *********@e3g20 00cwe.googlegro ups.com>,
"gnarl" <jm*****@sssltd .co.ukwrote:

Hello all,

I'm developing a site in PHP4 for a music artist, who wants music to
play across all their pages. I have loaded a simple flash applet to
play the music, but every time the visitor to the site moves to a
different page the music starts again. The artist would like the music
to play continuously.

I can only think of three possible ways to solve this, and I am not
happy with any of them.

1) Use frames - but this will wreck my lovely CSS layout
2) Open the player in another window - but this has issues with popup
blockers, and really I would prefer it all to be on screen at the same
time.
3) Re-design the whole site in Flash - I don't have time for this
right now.

Does anyone here have any other suggestions?

Or, if you were developing this site, which would you choose and why?

Frames.

1. A music artist probably doesnt' care that visitors can't bookmark
subpages,

2. Works in pretty much every browser known to mankind.

3. Keeps the other content just the way it is. It shouldn't "wreck"
any CSS to use frames.
--
Sandman[.net]

[gnarl]

Hi Dylan,

Your point is a valid one, but as the whole point of the page is to
advertise the artists music, you would expect that the visitors would
want to hear some. By loading the flash player, the visitor has the
power to hit the 'stop' button if they've had enough or want to listen
to something playing in a different application.

Standard download are also being offered on one page.

But, thanks for the comments anyway :-)
Dylan Parry wrote:

gnarl wrote:

Or, if you were developing this site, which would you choose and why?

I wouldn't choose any of them. I would instead explain how music playing
on a website is both annoying and tacky. I would suggest to them that if
the visitor was already listening to music, as I for example often am,
how they would probably be pissed off by the unwanted music from a website.

Have you suggested that they alternatively allow the visitors to
download clips to listen to rather than have it forced upon them?

--
Dylan Parry
http://electricfreedom.org | http://webpageworkshop.co.uk

Listening to: Genesis - In The Cage

[Dylan Parry]

gnarl wrote:

Hi Dylan,

Your point is a valid one, but as the whole point of the page is to
advertise the artists music,

There is of course a difference between advertising the artist's music
and forcing it upon the visitor. Afterall, the visitor has already gone
to the artist's website, and is obviously interested enough to click on
a "Flash player" to listen to the music on without having the site
choose the track for them and make them have to turn it off ;)

you would expect that the visitors would want to hear some. By
loading the flash player, the visitor has the power to hit the 'stop'
button if they've had enough or want to listen to something playing
in a different application.

It would be more user-friendly if the visitor had to hit the "start"
button rather than opt out of listening to it.

--
Dylan Parry
http://electricfreedom.org | http://webpageworkshop.co.uk

Programming, n: A pastime similar to banging one's head
against a wall, but with fewer opportunities for reward.

[gnarl]

Fair enough Dylan. I except your point.

But once the user has clicked on play, how do you suggest I can allow
them to continue to browse the site without interrupting the music?
Dylan Parry wrote:

gnarl wrote:

Hi Dylan,

Your point is a valid one, but as the whole point of the page is to
advertise the artists music,

There is of course a difference between advertising the artist's music
and forcing it upon the visitor. Afterall, the visitor has already gone
to the artist's website, and is obviously interested enough to click on
a "Flash player" to listen to the music on without having the site
choose the track for them and make them have to turn it off ;)

you would expect that the visitors would want to hear some. By
loading the flash player, the visitor has the power to hit the 'stop'
button if they've had enough or want to listen to something playing
in a different application.

It would be more user-friendly if the visitor had to hit the "start"
button rather than opt out of listening to it.

--
Dylan Parry
http://electricfreedom.org | http://webpageworkshop.co.uk

Programming, n: A pastime similar to banging one's head
against a wall, but with fewer opportunities for reward.

[larry]

Sandman wrote:

>
Frames.

1. A music artist probably doesnt' care that visitors can't bookmark
subpages,

2. Works in pretty much every browser known to mankind.

3. Keeps the other content just the way it is. It shouldn't "wreck"
any CSS to use frames.
--
Sandman[.net]

I agree frames are good, most browsers support them now (those that
don't probably don't support media files either).

You could make the music playing frame a small strip (maybe with a "now
playing xxx from album yyy" banner then it will mesh more with the
site.

Also with frames you could change 'music tracks' as needed.

[Christoph Burschka]

gnarl wrote:

Fair enough Dylan. I except your point.

But once the user has clicked on play, how do you suggest I can allow
them to continue to browse the site without interrupting the music?
Dylan Parry wrote:

>gnarl wrote:

>>Hi Dylan,

Your point is a valid one, but as the whole point of the page is to
advertise the artists music,

There is of course a difference between advertising the artist's music
and forcing it upon the visitor. Afterall, the visitor has already gone
to the artist's website, and is obviously interested enough to click on
a "Flash player" to listen to the music on without having the site
choose the track for them and make them have to turn it off ;)

>>you would expect that the visitors would want to hear some. By
loading the flash player, the visitor has the power to hit the 'stop'
button if they've had enough or want to listen to something playing
in a different application.

It would be more user-friendly if the visitor had to hit the "start"
button rather than opt out of listening to it.

--
Dylan Parry
http://electricfreedom.org | http://webpageworkshop.co.uk

Programming, n: A pastime similar to banging one's head
against a wall, but with fewer opportunities for reward.

Popup blockers usually do not block pop-ups that are requested by the action of
a user - such as clicking on a "javascript :" link. So my tip would be to offer a
link to such a pop-up player.

The added bonus is that the pop-up player can start playing as soon as it's
opened (without being annoying), which means the music still starts with only
one click. While the player remains running, the visitor can browse through the
site without interrupting the music.

This is really the only way I can see this can be done. Playback is tied to the
page, so you need a separate window/frame for the music to play continuously.

--
Christoph Burschka

[Dylan Parry]

Christoph Burschka wrote:
[use a *requested* pop-up]

This is really the only way I can see this can be done. Playback is tied to the
page, so you need a separate window/frame for the music to play continuously.

That's what I would have suggested too. Nothing wrong with pop-ups, as
long as you tell the user they're going to get one.

--
Dylan Parry
http://electricfreedom.org | http://webpageworkshop.co.uk

Programming, n: A pastime similar to banging one's head
against a wall, but with fewer opportunities for reward.

[pangea33]

gnarl wrote:

Does anyone here have any other suggestions?

Or, if you were developing this site, which would you choose and why?

I'd consider creating a *.m3u playlist file that refers to the artist's
files. That way the music loads only at the user's request, it also
respects their media player of choice. It's increasingly important as
people begin to tend away from MS.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M3U