Miller M. VoiceXML 10 Projects to Voice Enable Your Web Site

John Wiley, 2002. — 403 p.Playing with a new technology is fun. I have been a teacher in one form or another for over 20 years, but it still gets me excited when I see something that seems so obvious and so simple that it is shocking it hasn’t been done before. That’s the way I feel about VoiceXML.
VoiceXML makes it possible for anyone who can build a basic Web page to create a voice Web page. The first time I heard about VoiceXML, it took me less than an hour to get my first application up and running. It’s just that simple. Simplicity, however, doesn’t mean that big things can’t be done. If you have called 1-800-555-1212 recently, you have heard a VoiceXML application written by TellMe.com handling the incoming calls through VoiceXML.
VoiceXML: 10 Projects to Voice Enable Your Website is an outgrowth of my experiments while playing with VoiceXML. One of the problems with many technology books I have seen is that they give you all of the tools, but they don’t tell you how to use them. Context is one of the most important parts of learning. I think that people beginning to learn a technology can learn much more from creating and implementing projects than by learning about function sets and where things are on a menu bar.
This book is for beginning voice developers. It assumes no knowledge of VoiceXML or previous experience with the technology. If you are a Web developer or have developed even one Web page, this book is for you. VoiceXML terminology is similar to HTML, but it has a much smaller element set: There are less than 50 elements to learn. The first five projects will bring you up to speed with everything you will need to know when voice enabling your current Web site.
Database managers will find the book interesting if they want to see how to output a database query as a vocal response. Most of the data on the Web is stored in databases, whereas most of the people in the world have access to a telephone. VoiceXML acts as the glue joining the two technologies.
System administrators will be excited to know that VoiceXML can be used to call them on the phone when their systems need help. The application can be set up to call, not beep them, with a system specific message output vocally. With a little more work, simple administration of the system can be handled through the phone call, making it unnecessary to access a computer to make updates.
CGI programmers will have a field day with VoiceXML. Any type of output that is currently generated on a Web site through Perl, ASP, JSP, PHP, or other dynamic content generator can be output as a voice response to be accessed over the telephone.
However, this book isn’t for everyone. It is not a reference manual and does not cover advanced techniques of VoiceXML. If you have already developed extensive voice applications or have been a developer on one of the voice portals such as BeVocal, TellMe, or HeyAnita, this probably isn’t the book for you. You’d be better off with a detailed examination of the VoiceXML 2.0 specification at the W3C, tearing apart the documentation on the Nuance site for developing complex grammars, or using Bruce Balentine’s How to Build a Speech Recognition Application style guide. VoiceXML: Professional Developer’s Guide by Sharma and Kunins has also been getting good reviews as a solid reference manual.
But if you are just getting started with VoiceXML, keep reading.Part One Introduction
Introduction to VoiceXML
Setting Up the Working Environment
Part Two The Projects
Building Basic Pages with VoiceXML
Creating Links
Contact Us
User Authentication
Templates and Multiple Documents
Telephone Dialer
Report Recorder
Quiz Generator
San Francisco Arts Calendar
FAQ Engine