Joined on 01-08-2006
St. Paul
In the old days, (1991-1994) many sites played Midi files when a visitor landed on the site. For a while there seemed an explosion of sites that greeted the visitor to the latest Midi release.
Users were annoyed. They were annoyed not only by the horrible midi files being played on their speakers without their permission, but also by the fact that they had to "take action" and turn down the volume etc. (User friendly Flash and Java controls were not around then) Consequently, serious designers stopped embedding sound files and thankfully, the "ding dink ding" of the midi file went away.
That said, as a branding solution for NP's, sound is one of the most powerful. All major brands and companies have "their sound".
Does your Org have a sound that helps differentiate it from the crowd?
If not, why not?
If so, how did it come about and is it played on your website? In what format?
While I do like the music I hear on some sites, I think "audio-popups" are a really bad idea, no matter if it's MIDI or 44KHZ stereo sound.
Better to have some link for people to activate music or sound then shove it in their face (ears) when they visit.
Anything that intrudes into a user's environment should be avoided, in my opinion. You may think Enya is soothing, others may find her wailing grating on the nerves. Remember, one person's branding (the kind you like) may be another person's branding (the kind you don't like). Most cattle that I've talked to hate branding!
I think designers or organizations take a big risk and are not being considerate of the visitor when the popup a message, start playing audio, or play video.
You can't assume the visitor is not already playing some kind of music, can you? I curse at the sites that play music or start speaking at me when I'm listing to the radio or recordings. Except for some of the experimental electronic music I listen to, the combination of the two sounds really bad...!
Marc,
Interesting question... I have a feeling the responses will be very similar to the "I hate it" responses that where posted on my Flash question. While I am not a non-profit, I will share a few of my thoughts as a designer/consultant.
Sound, like Flash, can be a tricky thing. Generally I do not recommend background sound to my NPO or regular clients, even those that have used Flash. My opinion is that sound can be used effectively as part of a story telling project, but it is very risky when forced upon or not associated with a particular element or objective
It is very important that there are on/off buttons and that they are very easy to find. The other important thing about sound is that it should not sound canned. This caveat will place a bit more of a financial burden on projects, but using cheap midis or wav files just makes the site sound and feel cheap. If you are going to add sound/music, make sure that you invest in quality audio or do not do it.
Joined on 01-08-2006
St. Paul
E.G.
A site that aims to help battered women might use a very soft, soothing, "Enya" like MP3 track, played softly in order to create a "gentle space" on the web. (with the option to turn it off of course.) In this instance, it's the specific audience that needs to be taken into consideration.
Many NP's have inherently small audiences. This creates an opportuity to set themselves apart as THE place to go for resources, aid etc.
Interested to read others experience/experiments...
I'm not at all opposed to sound on Web sites, so long as this media is not imposed upon me. Just like you guys already mentioned, it's very important that visitors have the ability to control the audio (turn it on/off) at any time.
And as you guys also mentioned, the type of audio used should make sense; it should add value to your site in some way. Please don't play me an audio message from your President, that goes something like this:
"Hello, welcome to our Web site. Here, you'll find out about our organization, the services we provide, and how to contact us. We look forward to hearing from you. Thanks for visiting!"
Key Question: Can you think of why this type of audio message above won't add much to your organization's Web site?
Yann
Marc & Everyone,
How about posting links to NPO sites that use sound effectively. It would be interesting to see what's out there.
Being able to turn it or or off is key. Many people do not realize it, but SOME audio content will stop playing if the visitor clicks the "STOP" button in the web browser.
As for the initial state of the on/off, has anyone yet seen a site where the sound is OFF by default, and requires user interaction to turn it ON?
I think some interesting stats could be unconvered by logging the percentage of visitors that turn the sound on and off. Within a relatively short period of time you should be able to ascertain whether YOUR specific audience is receptive to the audio or not.
Joined on 01-08-2006
St. Paul
tkeneipp,
I wasn't able to find any! LOL - That's why I asked the question...to perhaps bring some to light...
I think there has been an unwritten rule in webdesign that reads,"sound is bad" and I'm not sure it's accurate.
I haven't read any recent useabilty studies on the topic though.
tclaremont,
I did see a advertisement for the musical group "Korn" recently that had audio that was originally off with an on option.
Does your Org have a sound that helps differentiate it from the crowd?
If not, why not?
I find sound incredibly annoying. I tend to listen to music while I surf, and something that interupts my music is a very, very bad thing. To all music and annoying flashing garbage -- just say NO! Unless you're a band or something and people are going to your site with the the express interest of listening to music, they're most likely not gonna want stuff coming out of their speakers.
One other (albeit minor) thing to consider is the fact that sound may interfere with blind users.
Also consider the fact that many surf from work. Your music is probably not something that others in neighboring cubicles will want to hear.
Sound should follow the fundamental rules of any other article of content on your website. Namely, content is king. If it is relevent, if it is requested, if the customer has a logical expectation that it will be there, then it belongs.
Ask yourself, why am I putting this 'item' on my site. If your sole reason is because *you* like it, then it probably does not belong.
There are three 'levels' of sound for a website. The first level is none at all. The second level is 'user requested" sound, which customers need to make a conscious effort to employ, and the third is 'intentional'.
If you think about the three levels, which one is your customer likely to embrace?
Give them a choice, as opposed to commiting "audio trespassing" would be my vote.
Joined on 03-28-2006
TechSoup Member
Since you asked just about "sound" check out www.the-fbc.org. It's used as an option for accessibility. Very helpful to those with print barriers.
Joined on 04-01-2006
TechSoup Member
I think that you can use sound very effectively. But it has to be sound that the visitor turns own by themselves. I hate going to a site that suddenly blasts something at me. However, if I am asked to listen to something I sometime will choose to listen.
I use it successfully on my site
FundraisingMom.com.
I think that a voice can add a nice personal touch a site. Especially to the donation page where you can have the director explain why is it so important to donate to this cause a so forth.
I hope this helps,
Suzanne Wouk
Hi Suzanne,
Thanks for chiming in and letting us know about your site. Looks cool!
I listened to your audio greeting on the main page and I like that you explain how FundraisingMom.com came to be. This is much more informative than the generic "Hello, welcome to my site" kind of greeting. And I found your video to be really cute.
Welcome to TechSoup,
Yann
Joined on 04-01-2006
TechSoup Member
Thank you Yann for the nice greeting.
I love techsoup and am happy to help in any way...
Regards,
suz