Ask HN: Why do Apps use sound FX and websites don't?

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2460376

by helipad • 15 years ago

4 5 15 years ago

news.ycombinator.com

In it's Geocities heyday, web pages often had sound loops, WAV files and horrible flash files with sound effects.

Then we all got quite sensible and realised sound effects on websites are pretty annoying.

But with the advent of iPhone & Android apps - see this beatiful Pastebot example: http://vimeo.com/8157582 - coupled with a blurring of the lines between the UI of desktop and mobile apps, are we going to start seeing (hearing!) tasteful yet complementary sound effects on websites?

If not, why not? What makes a website so different to an app in their appeal of sound effects?

madhouse• 15 years ago

Probably the lack of a single sound format that is supported by all popular browsers on most platforms. And because animations can be easily done with JS/CSS, and that doesn't require all that much bandwidth or space, while good quality sound is considerably larger.

helipad• 15 years ago

Is it possible this might change with HTML5 in the future?

Dramatize• 15 years ago

Let's hope not.

rawsyntax• 15 years ago

if html5 video is any indication, it has to fall back to flash for browsers that don't support it, as well as encode the video in various codecs to account for different codec support (per browser)

ignifero• 15 years ago

a) Apps run on touchscreens. Your hands cover the screen so sometimes there is no visual cue.

b) When an app is slow to respond, the audible cue lets you know that the action was performed

c) iOS and android devices usually do 1 thing at a time, so you know the tap sound could only come from the current app. Imagine what it would sound like if a bell rang every time a web page in your tabs was updated. You 'd still need a visual aid to tell where it came from

d) because apps lack in content and try to make up with visual effects and sounds

Ask HN: Why do Apps use sound FX and websites don't?

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