Sound

[Greenwidth]

Just wondered what people thought.
For me, I listen to music 99% of the time whilst surfing and it is nothing more than an unwelcome annoyance.
If I could, I would set all sites with sound to off as a default, so I can choose if I want to listen to, almost invariably inappropriate, aural distractions.
Ahem..
But what do you think?

[Anogar]

Pages with sound is a huge pet peeve of mine. I almost never actually want to hear whatever noises they're forcing into my ears. I recognize that it might be fun to add to your page (I guess?) but I don't know how many perfectly good pages I've closed instantly because their barrage of noise mixed with whatever music I was already listening to caused me to reflexively mash the keyboard until it went away.

Ahem indeed. No sounds please.

[simplistik]

While, I think default off is the way to go, it's not cause I hate sounds like most "designers" and "developers" do. I also think that proper sound and ambience is advantageous to sites. Sites are to be treated like online ads and entertainment. When ad companies make ads, don't make ads without sound. That same kind of mindset needs to be embedded into these "designers" and "developers" that think things like that are an annoyance. Sounds and music aren't there JUST because (sometimes they are) but they are there to give the visitor an experience.

Sounds to some ppl is like Flash is to HTML ppl. Because they've seen it misused a few times... they think it's always gonna be bad, it's a stereotype.

[Anogar]

I think it's a really hard thing, because it's so intrusive. Don't get me wrong, well used sounds can really add a lot to a page. The thing is that when you're watching TV, you know that there is going to be video and sound. That's what you expect. You aren't going to flip on the radio, or make a phone call, and then sit down to watch TV, you wouldn't be able to do any of it properly. Now, when you're on the internet, the majority of pages do not have any sound. I really might flip on the radio, or make a phone call, or something of the like - and everything will be going fine until suddenly there is some song blaring at me - or crickets loudly chirping, or a space age "bloop, wheeeooop, bellloop" series of noises coming out of my speakers. It's a surprise, and sometimes it's a pleasant surprise, but if I'm on the phone or listening to music or something of the like, it's no good.

So, anyhow, I think sound should always be set to 'off', and if it's important to the content and / or ambiance of your page, add something like, "To fully experience blah.com, click here to enable audio."

[Krilnon]

I voted 'Yes', as there are quite a few sites that have music or sound that is so fitting that it impresses me more than a quiet site would. I don't mind pausing the music I'm listening to to visit a site. Obviously, if the sound isn't appropriate or of good quality, I'm not going to like it. If a site had horrible images, I wouldn't want to the the images either, but I would still browse without disabling images.

Why is this in Showcase & Critiques?

[matthewjumps]

i say default off cause music is one of the most subjective things around...u are highly unlikely to have music in ur site that evryone will like...some will some wont...but your guarenteed to annoy some people...

unless your site is precisely targeted (ie of course music would be good on a bads website, or on a film site) default off is the way to go...

[sameerzs]

i prefer sound on... let it be in a low volume... if it is not on then how wil u even know that there is music in this site unless u go searching fr a play button...

actually it is good to have music on the site... you'l know what kind of music that person likes n u might come across something really good... it has happened to me... :)