embeded music

[weegillis]

I would go along with your reasoning, @morestar, but only the basis the user having already followed a call to action, such as opening a gallery, or something, and then have the music begin ONLY IF the page IS opened from a call to action, not from a external referral or bookmark.

// page 1
$userInvoked = $linkURI$ . "&ui=1;
$callToAction = "<a href=\"$userInvoked\">Start the Slide Show</a>";
// page 2
$soundOn = (isset($_REQUEST['ui'])); 

Then use the $soundOn value in the construction of the argument string that gets passed to the embedded javascript object (the player).

As a fail safe one could also check the referrer to see if the request came from onsite or off and set the $soundOn value accordingly.

From a rights standpoint, nothing says fair use like using your own musical content. It's cheesy to hear some standard pop tune and not see a 'Used by permission' disclaimer. We can only conclude copyright infringement in those instances.

[jammybiskit]

You could also use the <frame> and <frameset> tags with the music embedded in the top level frame. Perhaps a large MUTE button might help with the problem of users not wanting to hear it.

[ramorius]

Without judging about the playing of music <I ALWAYS silence those pages, unless I was actually there FOR the music. I hate talking ads, too.>, there's another way to do this. I once created a site where all of the static pages were loaded when first accessing the page, but the pertinent parts were loaded into hidden divs. Then when links were clicked, I'd use javascript to hide one div and show the other. That solution would provide the continuity required for the music to be continuous in the browser. Of course, this falls apart, or gets MUCH more difficult, if the pages are dynamic or their content is reliant upon each other in any way.

Good luck!
Rob

[TechEvangelist]

I don't think the iframe or frame approaches will work. Even though the contents of the frame is a separate page, I think that page will be re-loaded each time a main window is opened.

I fully agree that the automated music is a bad idea. Many web sites see the majority of their traffic during regular office hours. If you want to really see someone get upset, play some music when they find your site while cruising the web at work. Music is a "bells and whistles" feature that turns on site owners much more than it turns on users.