In the IntelliTools Classroom Suite® Media Sounds folder, there are three subfolders full of sounds that don’t get used as much as they deserve because you can’t tell what they will sound like from reading the file names. The subfolders are Buttons, Magic, and Sci Fi. The files inside them have unhelpful names like “button_5.wav”.
I got tired of loading them one by one to try them out, so I imported them into toolbar buttons with the same names. The result is Preview Sounds, an activity that is mostly just one huge toolbar. I think you’ll find it a time-saver in constructing activities that need sounds in them.
How To Use Preview Sounds
Download and open the Preview Sounds activity in Classroom Suite. You can try out and compare sounds by clicking buttons in the large toolbar above above the instructions. White buttons are sounds from the Buttons folder, aqua buttons are sounds from the Magic folder, and yellow buttons are sounds from the Sci Fi folder.
To use Preview Sounds, leave it open while you are working on an activity, and switch back and forth between it and your project via the Window menu. Once you find a sound you like, make note of the name, switch back to your activity, and add the sound in the usual way from the Button Properties or Page Properties dialog.
Add A Sound Button From Preview Sounds
You can even add an entire sound button into a toolbar in your project. With Custom Toolbars and Buttons… active, select the toolbar where you want the sound button, choose Add Button..., choose From Open Document, and indicate Preview Sounds. Locate the button with the sound you liked and click OK.
A copy of the button you chose will be placed in the toolbar in your project. This won’t change Preview Sounds in any way.
How To Play Several Sounds On One Page
Adding sound buttons is the easiest way to deal with playing more than one sound on the page. You can leave the toolbar with all the sounds you need hidden. When you need to play one of the sounds, use the Select Button action and carefully type in the name of the sound button you want to use. Even though its toolbar is hidden, the sound will play!
Applications needed: IntelliTools Classroom Suite.
Subject area: Resource.
Level: Author.
Downloads-Activities
Classroom Suite
SoundsPreview.zip (775 KB) Preview Sounds resource activity in Classroom Suite v.3 or later.
