Audio Sample Formatting
I've been spending quite a bit of time deciding how to format the audio samples on this site, and it's not as easy as it looks. There are a number of circumstances to consider, and my links went through a few different generations before I landed on the present format.
Which Media Format to Choose
Quicktime: Optimized for the web (smaller file size), but not all visitors have the quicktime plug-in. Don't want to exclude those who do not.
Windows Media: Also optimized for the web, but again not all visitors will have this plug-in.
Real Media: Personally I don't care for all the extra junk that is installed with the real player.
AAIF or Wav: These allow the visitor to hear the music on his/her computer's default music player, but the visitor must wait for the large file to load before she hears any music.
mp3: This was my choice because an mp3 is a smaller file, and is a universal format.
To Link Or Not To Link
The goal is to make it as easy and as pleasent for the listener as possible. The visitor should be able to click on the title of the song and hear music without having to bother with the mechanics of links or redirects. When done with one audio sample, the visitor should be able to just click another title to hear the next sample, then another, then another, etc. Therefore the nature of the link to the music file should not forward to another page.
You might try the old "target=blank" parameter in your html link, which will force the browser to open a new page, but in my opinion, closing those resulting pages is just more bother than I care to subject my guest to. Furthermore, It might actually discourage the visitor from clicking on more titles. Also, remember, there are many types of browsers, including explorer, safari, netscape, opera, AOL, and firefox, to name a few. The "target=blank" tag could have unexpected results depending on the user's browser and other personal settings.
I decided to use java to open the file as if it were a pop-up window when the title is clicked. This allows the visitor's default player to open and execute the music file. The listener should already be familiar with his computer's default player, so we're not forcing our guest to download any player that he/she may not want to download. Here's the code:
And it looks like this:
"Into The Gallery"
Go ahead, put your cursor over the text and click on it.