Using Wave Files

The WTE can use TTS to "speak" the text content of your application's HTML pages to the caller. Alternatively, you can use the VOICEFILE attribute to associate a wave file with individual HTML elements. When the WTE encounters such an element, it plays the wave file and ignores any text associated with the element. In a dual-access application, telephone callers would hear the wave file when the element is rendered, and users of graphical Web browsers would see the text.

The words recorded in the wave file don't need to match exactly the text displayed in the browser. For example, a Web page might include an anchor element containing the words "Driving Instruction" that provides a link to another topic. To the user of a graphical Web browser, "Driving Instruction" would appear underlined and in blue text, indicating a link that the user could click. A telephone caller, however, would need fuller instructions, such as "press two for driving instruction." To provide fuller instructions, you create a wave file that contains the instructions, and use the VOICEFILE attribute to associate the file with the anchor element. For example:

<A HREF="drive.html" VOICEFILE="drive.wav" ACCESSKEY=2>Driving Instruction</A>