Author: michael

Description:
On wikipedia people are starting to upload .ogg files to demonstrate pronunciation (e.g., at
[[Nikita Khrushchev]]), using [[:Template:Audio]].

The accessibility of this interface for audio is very poor, especially for novice users on stock
Windows or Mac systems (see [[Template talk:Audio#Overloaded interface]]).

Some specific problems:

• Image: namespace's name is confusing when used for audio media.
• Directly linking to audio media file needlessly adds the external link icon. Clicking on it won't

play it in some browsers.

• Linking to description page is not much better. There's no good interface to play audio files

and no standard user help.

• Most default systems don't have software to play .ogg files, so a warning or help should be

shown to users *before* they click.

• Some linked audio files will never play in some browsers, unless embedded with <object> or

<embed> tag (e.g., .ogg in Safari, even with ogg QuickTime plugin installed it just downloads
the file).

Proposed interface:

• Audio: or Sound: namespace.
• Includes standard audio help on the description page.
• Embeds the sound right on the description page, using <object> or <embed> tag.
• Lets a logged-in user choose the preferred plug-in to request (QuickTime, Real, WinMedia).
• Lets a logged-in user choose to autoplay sounds on their description page.

See also bug 44: "Why is image: used for all files?"

Version: unspecified
Severity: normal