So I have been thinking of adding a new feature (well, a few new features) to my site to entertain people, as well as increase the frequency that people visit the site. Without getting too specific (I do not want to ruin the fun), I was considering adding a sound-type player over there on the sidebar.
Now, with that in mind, I have a few options. The first option, and the one that seems to be most appropriate, is putting up a small Flash based player. The only problem with that is I am not a big fan of Flash, and actually do not have it installed on my default Firefox install. I also figure there are a few other people who do not have flash installed, so I am hesitant to put it over there. Plus, I am not a fan of having a website which requires ‘additional’ software to work correctly. Yuck.
My next option is to use a media player (a built-in Windows Media Player app maybe?). This seems like a good idea, only that not everyone who visits my site uses Windows, and I do not want to alienate any of my visitors. In addition, using a media player implementation means that I cannot customize the look/feel to fit the theme of my site. Grrr.
So, since I cannot make up my mind, I am asking you to make it up for me. Should I use Flash or WMP? Or, if you know of another option, please suggest it. I am completely open at the moment. My only real requirement is that it has a play/stop button, as I refuse to have any sounds attacking my visitors without their direct consent.
Anyway, that is all. Let me know what you folks want / prefer / suggest. I need some help. Thanks.
2 Comments
I recommend the flash approach. More people have Flash than you think. It loads faster than WMP as well. BTW, I’m visiting in Windows and I don’t have WMP installed (I know its under there, but I DID say NO!) and, as such, the Real Player plugin doesn’t always work in Firefox for me and I have to load Windows Media url’s in the standalone Real Player. But that’s my choice. I bet that I’m not alone.
OK. One vote for Flash. I completely forgot about the iTunes / Real Player crowd, which, is pretty odd. I say odd because I myself do not use WMP. I use iTunes for audio and VLC for anything video related. Hmmm.
You are probably right about “more people [having] Flash than [I] think” part. Also, doing Flash would probably inconvenience the least amount of people overall. But there is just something about asking / forcing my readers / viewers to install third party software that makes me go “hmmm.”
Is there a way to do all this within PHP without the use of third-party apps?
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