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In addition to adding text and graphics to your Web pages, you can present multimedia information, including movies, background sounds, and scrolling text. Word makes inserting these types of components easy by providing toolbar buttons on the Web Tools toolbar. To display the Web Tools toolbar, choose View, Toolbars, Web Tools, or right-click a toolbar, and choose Web Tools on the shortcut menu. In this section, you'll learn how to insert multimedia components. The Web Tools toolbar also provides buttons that help you create interactive Web forms. Creating interactive Web forms is discussed in the section "Creating Interactive Forms."
Inside Out
When you create a Web page in Word, you can insert a movie directly in your Web page. Keep in mind that this option includes the movie directly on your page, similar to displaying a graphic. You can configure the movie to play when the Web page is opened, when the user moves the mouse cursor over the movie, or in both instances. To insert a movie in your Web page, follow these steps:
The Movie Clip dialog box opens, as shown in Figure 31-20, and a default Movie icon is displayed in your document.
Figure 31-20. You use the Movie Clip dialog box to insert a movie in your Web page.
Tip
Tip - Control the movie's display while you work
To review a movie while you're working on your Web page document in Word, you can right-click the image representing the movie and choose Play on the shortcut menu. To stop the movie, right-click the movie, and click Stop. To disable the movie altogether while you work, click the Design Mode button on the Web Tools toolbar to work in Design Mode. (To return to standard Web Layout view, click the Design Mode button again.)
Generally, inserting a movie directly into a Web page isn't the best approach to take to Web page design. For the same reasons people turn off graphics or can't view graphics, some users also disable movies or can't view movies. In addition, people with slow Internet connections might not want to wait while movies download. Better design practice dictates that you copy the movie file into your Web page folder and then create a hyperlink (text or graphic) that links to the movie file. That way, users can choose whether they want to view your movie instead of being forced to download it.
To delete a movie from your Web page, click the Design Mode button on the Web Tools toolbar to enter Design Mode. Then right-click the Movie placeholder icon, and choose Cut from the shortcut menu.
Another multimedia element you can add to Web pages is background sound. Background sound refers to a sound file that plays when users display your Web page. You should use background sound sparingly. Many people find background sound annoying and a waste of bandwidth. If you find an instance in which a background sound adds to your page (maybe you're displaying a page about cricket chirps), you should feel comfortable adding the feature. Otherwise, your best bet is to provide a link to a sound file so that users can choose whether they want to play the sound file, instead of being forced to run it. Here's how to add a background sound to a Web page in those instances in which a background sound adds significantly to your Web page:
Figure 31-21. You can use the Background Sound dialog box to include background sound in your Web page.
Tip
To stop the background sound from playing while you work on the Web page, click the Design Mode button on the Web Tools toolbar. (This button stops both movies and background sounds from playing.) To hear your background sound, click the Design Mode button again to return to the standard Web Layout view.
To delete a sound from your Web page, click the Design Mode button, right-click the Sound placeholder icon, and choose Cut on the shortcut menu.
Tip
Another type of multimedia component you can easily include on Web pages you build in Word is scrolling text, which is more commonly called marquee text by Web designers. Scrolling text is displayed like stock-ticker text—it enters on one side of your document and slides across to the other.
Caution
To insert scrolling text in your Web page document in Word, follow these steps:
Figure 31-22. You use the Scrolling Text dialog box to include scrolling text in your Web page.
After you insert scrolling text, you can further modify the component by working with it in Design Mode (click the Design Mode button on the Web Tools toolbar). In Design Mode, you can enhance your scrolling text in the following ways:
In general, you should use scrolling text to draw attention to a particular informational bit; you shouldn't include critical information in this component (unless the information also appears elsewhere on the page). If a user's browser doesn't support scrolling text, that user might not see the message, so you want to make sure the information is "expendable" to some extent.