In just about every "Tips for good web sites" I've run across, comes a paragraph blasting MIDI music:

"Never, EVER put MIDI background music on your site. Everyone hates it and it is a hallmark of bad design."

Well, kiddies, I run my own web site design company. And you know what? I have committed this deadliest of sins: Yes, I have MIDI music on my personal home pages. And I am quite happily a sinner.

The first website I ever created, The Scullywags, is unabashedly silly, so it seems quite fitting with the page to have cheezy electronic versions of my favorite pop songs greeting my visitors. MIDI is quite a tacky medium to begin with, and it's even worse if you pick an already tacky song - this, to me, is the whole appeal. MIDI is endearingly awful, just like low-budget horror films and Power Rangers. So when choosing songs for my sites, I go out of my way to pick the absolute corniest songs I can find, which naturally irritates everyone who visits my page. One poor woman told me she had "Waterloo" stuck in her head after perusing my site!

Yes, my page is a nightmare for any dedicated MIDI hater. But there is a solution - even if the MIDI is embedded in the page like mine are, there are still various ways to shut it off:

1. Hit the "Stop" button on your browser. This is often enough to turn it off.

2. Turn off the volume - in Windows, go to Start/Programs/Accessories/Multimedia/Volume Control, or click once on the speaker icon on the taskbar. Now select "Mute", and the perky tune will be abruptly shut off (All you have to do is check the box again to turn it back on, if you decided you want to hear your computer sing "Spice Up Your Life" after all).

3. Even simpler would be to just turn the volume down on the speakers themselves, if they have volume control on them.

So, see? Even if you don't like MIDI, you switch it off and surf in peace. I can understand why many people say you should not put it on your page; But, to me, this supposed no-no is a flexible rule - just because your page belts out a little tune when people visit, that doesn't necessarily make it badly designed!

Please, please just make sure you don't put 72-point blinking text on your page too.