Audio
Audio files can provide convenient, entertaining or educational content for your audience in an easily accessible format. Learn how you can create a media item from either an audio file on another platform or by uploading an audio file directly to the CMS.
Using videos
Do
- Use high-quality audio that is clear and easy to hear.
- Only include audio content if it is relevant to the page and will help the audience understand the information or to complete a task.
- Provide an HTML or plain text transcript as a text alternative for your audio files.
- Make sure you have the necessary permissions and rights to use any audio content.
- If you are uploading an audio file directly to the CMS it must be in mp3 format and no larger than 8 MB.
- If you are linking to a remote audio file it must be hosted on either Spotify or Omny Studio.
Don't
- Auto-play audio as this can be annoying or distracting for the audience. Let the audience choose if they wish to play the audio content.
- Don't use too many audio and/or video files on a page as this can slow down the page loading and make it difficult for the audience to find the information they need.
- Don't use audio files that are too long as they may cause the audience to lose interest quickly.
How to add your audio item to the media library
Once your audio has been prepared to meet accessibility requirements and you have the transcript, you can add audio to your page, either:
- by uploading an mp3 audio file directly to the CMS, or
- by creating a remote audio media item that includes a link to the audio on another platform, such as Spotify or Omni Studio.
- Go to Content > Media > Add media > Audio File.
- Add Title (mandatory) – enter the title of the audio file. The title of the audio will show in a grey box. You can use the checkbox to select it to show underneath the audio file.
- You can add an image that has already been uploaded to the CMS to your audio file by using the Use existing media search field. If you haven't already uploaded an image file and would like to, you can click on the media add page link to be directed to the media upload page. To select and upload and image follow the image guidelines.
- In Audio file click Choose file to upload your audio file.
- Agency (mandatory) – search for your agency or department.
- Editorial group (mandatory) – the group responsible for the video.
- Save. Your audio is now available to be added to your page.
- You must add a transcript or other accessible text version of your audio file to your web page when you add your audio file.
- Go to Content > Media > Add media > Remote audio.
- Enter the Title of the audio file. The title of the audio will show in a grey box. You can use the checkbox to select it to show underneath the audio file.
- Enter a short Description (recommended) of the audio. The description will show under the title. If you do not use an audio title and description, the grey box will still show under the audio file, but it will just be blank.
- Enter the Remote audio URL (mandatory) – only remotely hosted audio from Spotify or Omny Studio can be uploaded.
- Agency (mandatory) – search for your agency or department.
- Editorial group (mandatory) – the group responsible for the video.
- Enter the Transcript for your audio content. The transcript will show on the page as a hyperlink with the label – Read transcript – underneath the title and description in the grey box. Clicking the label will display the transcript in a separate pop-up window.
- Save. Your audio is now available to be added to your page.
Insert your audio item on to a web page via the WYSIWYG
1. In a WYSIWYG content block you can click the Insert Media using the button in your WYSIWYG toolbar.
2. Select your audio file type from the left column, either Audio file or Remote audio.
When inserting audio items to your page you are selecting from existing audio files in the media library. It is best practice to upload your audio item via the Media library pageto ensure it’s tagged correctly.
3. Search for the audio item by its title (which is the title you gave the item when you uploaded it) and click Apply filters.
4. When you have found your audio item, check the box on the image and click the Insert Selected button.
5. Once the audio item is displayed in the WYSIWYG, you can adjust your audio item's settings by clicking on it. You can leave the default settings, or you can:
- Add a caption to your audio item.
- Link the audio item (this isn't recommended, instead you should add text and links in the page text).
- Play the audio within the web page by leaving the drop down on Default or select Download if you'd prefer users to download the file instead.
- Align your audio – left, left with text wrapping around it on the right, centre, or right with text wrapping around it on the left.
- Open the audio item in a new window to edit the media item.
6. Save your page to check the display of the audio item.
How audio items display
See some live examples created by agencies and departments.