Mobile/Projects/Sound effects

Tracking

TBD

Goals

Make it possible for us, developers and partners to build sets of sound effects for various browser actions, such as clicking links, switching tabs and closing tabs. These sound effects should be user customizable through add-ons.

This speaks to our goal of proving an individually customizable experience for our user base. Markets where I expect to see greater interest in this feature: Asia-Pacific (inc Japan, China, Korea).

We also want to create an add-on that includes a default set of sound effects. This would be available for partners to bundle with their distribution if they so wish.

Specifications

• Create the ability for an add-on to set a 'sound theme' to standard browser actions
• These 'sound' add-ons would be similar in concept to our visual 'theme' add-ons and could (would) be promoted in the AMO
• Sounds need to support [to-be-named] audio filetype(s) (ie .wav)
• Sounds can be applied to the following browser actions [TBC with UX]
  • Open browser
  • Close browser
  • Open Private Browsing session
  • Close Private Browsing session
  • Open Guest Browsing session
  • Close Guest Browsing session
  • Open new tab
  • Close a tab
  • Tap on a link
  • Download complete
• Even if the add-on is installed and enabled, sounds should also respect the device's volume controls (including mute)
• Hopefully there is also a way of limiting the audio output to match the phone's own volume (to avoid staggering volume levels between the sound volume of the phone's functions vs the browser's sounds)

User stories & use cases

• As a user, I would the option of enabling sound effects for my browser.
• As a user, I would like to be able to turn these browser sound effects on and off.
• As a user, I would like to be able to install and switch between different sets of browser sound effects.
• As a user, I would like to be able to control the relative volume of my browser sound effects.
• As a user, I would like the option of disabling sound effects for arbitrary browser actions -- for example, if there's a set of sound effects I like except for the sound associated with the "click a link" action, I should be able to disable the sound effect for "click a link" and keep all the other sounds enabled. [KR: I think we should have this ability built into the add-on, but I would expect it is down to the developer to implement]
• As a user, I expect to be able to disable, override, or uninstall any sound effects that are bundled with the version of the browser on my device.

• As an add-on developer, I would like to be able to create & distribute a custom set of sound effects for Firefox browsers.
• As an add-on developer, I want solid documentation that explains what I can do with this add-on ability and how best I can implement sound effects for the browser.

• As a Mozilla partner, I would like to be able to create a custom set of sound effects for the version of Firefox we're distributing, and bundle that set of sound effects with the browser.
• As a Mozilla partner, I would like to have the [Mozilla approved] sound effects I've bundled with a browser to be on by default.

UX design

• list of browser actions where we want sound effects enabled
• compile a collection of sound effects for our default/add-on set
• design the relevant UI for the add-on/settings/etc

Quality criteria

• Must not significantly increase APK size
• Must not negatively impact browser performance and responsiveness

Research & examples

• I haven't been able to find any examples of browsers that have sound effects, but I'll keep digging.