Business websites that hijack speakers 

Remember the ground-breaking move Microsoft made by adding a Mozart soundtrack to Excel? The complex patterns of classical music were shown to put accountants and financial planners everywhere "in the mood" to crunch numbers. Plus, the background music "branded" Excel and was widely credited with it passing up rival Lotus 123's market-share lead.

Don't remember that? Neither do I, because it didn't happen. As far as I know, Microsoft has never considered adding background music to any of their work-related programs. They know that their users wouldn't appreciate it.

Yet, some web designers think it's a good idea to automatically play music on business-oriented websites. The reasons given for doing this sound good at first blush: put users "in the mood" to buy, enhance the "user experience," give the website an air of sophistication, or help "brand" the website.

These well-intentioned theories fall short in the real world though. For many users, uninvited (and unexpected) music can be irritating, because the user is already listening to music of his or her choice. For others, it's inappropriate, because they're working in a quiet environment such as a library or open-door office. Additionally, "hijacking" a user's computer speakers with unrequested music violates one of the basic tenets of web browsing: that users (should) have control over what a website does. Web usability expert Jakob Nielsen refers to this as the "mastery ideology" of web design. (Exception: musicians' websites - the music is the main point of their websites, and users are expecting to hear music in this case).

"But," a pro-background-music web designer might say, "users do have control. All they have to do is click the mute button I provided." This assumes that users look for a mute button. Many will just hit the back button and go to a different website. Not good if you want users to explore your website long enough to learn about your business. Those that do stay, and think to look for the mute button, now have to track it down. Is it at the top of the page, near the bottom, or over in a sidebar? And what does it look like? Sometimes it's a mute button (speaker icon with a slash through it). Other times it's a VCR/DVD-like stop button (a square).

Better to only play music when the user requests it (that mastery thing). This makes users happy and keeps them on your website long enough to learn about your products or services. To paraphrase an old child-rearing idiom, "well-behaved websites should be seen and not heard (unless asked)." 

This article was originally published in the Coeur d'Alene Press' North Idaho Business Journal