by Jonathan Eisenzopf Developing a VoiceXML IVR is straightforward. Designing a quality speech interface on the other hand is a long road paved with assumptions mistakes and failures. Read Jonathan s 10 best practices for VUI design and learn from his mistakes before you fall into the same traps. Overview It s common and understandable for developers...

by Jonathan Eisenzopf One way to develop powerful VoiceXML applications is to leverage existing Web applications by simulating a Web browser and scraping the results via a programmable HTTP Web agent. This example allows users to track a Federal Express package using the fedex.com Web site. Overview One of the selling points of VoiceXML is that it...

by Jonathan Eisenzopf The Call Control eXtensible Markup Language provides the call management event processing and conferencing capabilities that VoiceXML lacks. The first installment in this series will provide an overview of the purpose features and concepts of the CCXML language. Overview VoiceXML is a language for creating and managing speech...

by Jonathan Eisenzopf In our last tutorial we learned how to use the Dialed Number Identification Service or DNIS to direct callers to sub-menus in VoiceXML applications. In this follow-up tutorial we will learn how to use Automatic Number Identification ANI to recognize callers. ANI Overview Like DNIS ANI is sent by a telephone company along...

by Jonathan Eisenzopf Dialed Number Identification Service or DNIS is a standard that most telephone companies in the United States use to identify the number that was dialed. In this tutorial we will learn how to use DNIS information to direct callers to sub-menus in VoiceXML applications. DNIS Overview This information is frequently used in call...

by Jonathan Eisenzopf Microsoft is about to release a free Beta version of its .NET Speech SDK this week. This is Microsoft s first foray in the growing voice Web market where speech recognition technology is fused with Web technologies and the telephone. The .NET Speech SDK will support the SALT XML specification developed by the SALT Forum a standards...

by Jonathan Eisenzopf The recent VoiceXMLPlanet Conference was a great opportunity to hear from vendors and potential customers to get a better picture of the state of the market. It also gave me a glimpse into potential new markets that may emerge as a result of the technology. In this article I will provide a list of the top insights that I took...

by Jonathan Eisenzopf In this final introduction to the CCXML language we will develop a simple multi-party conferencing system in Perl. In case you missed them you can find previous parts in this series here Introduction to CCXML Part I Introduction to CCXML Part II Introduction to CCXML Part III Introduction to CCXML Part IV Overview Creating...

by Hitesh Seth So far in our series on SALT Speech Application Language Tags we have looked at the basic architecture of SALT based applications. We have also taken a closer look at some of the elements" of SALT and their syntax. Now that we are ready to start developing we will take a look at the new Microsoft .NET Speech SDK which allows...

Step 1 Developing and Testing Pure SALT Applications by Hitesh Seth So far in our introductory series on SALT Speech Application Language Tags we have learned the basic architecture of SALT-based applications. In the previous article in the series we took a closer look at the components of Microsoft .NET Speech SDK Beta 2 and a brief introduction...

by Hitesh Seth So far in our SALT Speech Application Language Tags series we have learned about the syntax of key SALT elements and their usage. We have also seen a preview of some of the applications that can be developed using SALT. In this article Applying SALT" we are going to go back to the drawing-board and learn about the various...

by Hitesh Seth In the second part of our SALT" series we will endeavor to understand the syntax of the key SALT elements and their usage. prompt> The prompt> element is the main element for speech-output. It allows SALT-based applications to play prompts using TTS Text to Speech Synthesis or pre-recorded audio prompts. The...

by Jonathan Eisenzopf Your decision on whether to use a natural dialog approach instead of a directed dialog in an IVR application will directly affect the cost effort and maintenance of the system. This article will give you a process that you can use to make the right decision. Natural Dialogs versus Directed Dialogs A natural dialog is one in which...

by Jonathan Eisenzopf In Part IV of the Introduction to CCXML we will learn how to set up and breakdown a 2-party conference call using join> and unjoin> . We will also learn more about state variables and their use in CCXML. Overview We re going to build on the concepts that were introduced in the first three CCXML tutorials and extend...

by Jonathan Eisenzopf In case you missed it you can still read the previous sections of this article Introduction to CCXML Part I and Introduction to CCXML Part II . In Part III of the Introduction to CCXML we will begin developing practical call control applications. Overview As I ve mentioned previously I m using the Voxeo CCXML platform to...