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Thread: Flash problem--and Contribute problem....

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From: Debbie Charles
Date: Tue, Nov 01 2005 7:00AM
Subject: Flash problem--and Contribute problem....
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I have two problems that I wanted to see if anyone knows how to fix. We use
Macromedia products, and this is specific to them.

When you insert a Flash movie into a Dreamweaver page, publish it, and run
Bobby--or any other accessibility software on it, you get an error. It is
the Object tag error and the provide a link to accessible download. I have
found a way around it by using Javascript, but that is not a realistic
solution for faculty and staff who maintain pages and are not programmers.
Realistically, it's not a solution for me except that I found the code in
the Macromedia community and modified the file names to make it work!

Also, we use Contribute for many of our sites that have numerous content
providers. If you're not familiar, there are several templates made for the
site and the content providers choose the templates for their pages and can
only add content or whatever else the admin has allowed. In our case, no
one can edit the actual code except the admin. Problem is, users can upload
Flash movies, but the same lame code that is inserted into Dreamweaver is
inserted in Contribute too. So, none of those pages pass. It is not
realistic to have the admin change the code on a case by case basis as the
site has 50 or more contributors. We considered adding the javascript code
I found to the template, but the specific file has to be included, so that
is not an option either.

One of the programmers was reading about AJAX and other possibilities.
Thought I would poll the group and see if anyone knew of a solution. I have
been on the phone with Macromedia twice, and they promise that it is all
compliant, but then I've also seen the accessibility blog from them
outlining this exact problem. Go figure.....

thanks in advance for any help!!

Debbie

Debbie Charles
Educational Technology Services
436-B Brackett Hall
Clemson University
864.650.3995

From: Bob Regan
Date: Tue, Nov 01 2005 7:40AM
Subject: RE: Flash problem--and Contribute problem....
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Hi there,

First, the question here is about handling of the Object element in
HTML. Ideally, you would be able to provide a text equivalent for your
embedded content (i.e. Flash) by adding content to the Object element.
This will allow pages to validate with Bobby. However, the bad news is
that content delivered using the Object element is unevenly supported by
the browsers and assistive technology.

With DW, you have a preference that will prompt you for an equivalent as
Flash content is inserted. This preference is enabled in DW8 by default.
You can turn it on in MX and MX04. Equivalents are then stored in the
title attribute of the Object element. This is a valid technique in
HTML. I am not certain if Bobby will flag it as an issue or not. These
equivalents are read by Window Eyes, but not JAWS.

The alternative would be to place the alternative within the content of
the Object element. The problem here is that IE (still a popular
browser) will display this as content.

Given the complexities, we decided not to prompt for this equivalent in
Contribute. It needs to be much simpler for the average Contribute
customer.

IMHO, the easiest thing to do is to place the equivalent at the root
level of the Flash movie itself. It has the widest support and does not
disrupt the visual design.

Cheers,
Bob

-----------------------------
bob regan | macromedia

From: Andrew Kirkpatrick
Date: Tue, Nov 01 2005 10:20AM
Subject: RE: Flash problem--and Contribute problem....
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> When you insert a Flash movie into a Dreamweaver page,
> publish it, and run Bobby--or any other accessibility
> software on it, you get an error. It is the Object tag error
> and the provide a link to accessible download. I have found a
> way around it by using Javascript, but that is not a
> realistic solution for faculty and staff who maintain pages
> and are not programmers.

I'm interested in what you did for your solution. Do you have a link or
more detail?

Can you tell the exact Bobby error? Was it:
G20 (Provide alternative content for each object) (for Section 508)

If so, the alternative content is part of the object when you make the
Flash content accessible.

If you need an alternative outside of the Flash content, then Bob's
suggestion is a good one, or you might want to take a look at the
various options for embedding Flash content - we have a posting on this
topic
(http://weblogs.macromedia.com/accessibility/archives/2005/08/in_search_
of_a.cfm).

> One of the programmers was reading about AJAX and other
> possibilities.
> Thought I would poll the group and see if anyone knew of a
> solution. I have been on the phone with Macromedia twice, and
> they promise that it is all compliant, but then I've also seen the
accessibility blog
> from them outlining this exact problem. Go figure.....

Are you asking about AJAX in general, or something more specific?

AWK

From: Christian Heilmann
Date: Tue, Nov 01 2005 11:00AM
Subject: Re: Flash problem--and Contribute problem....
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> One of the programmers was reading about AJAX and other possibilities.
> Thought I would poll the group and see if anyone knew of a solution. I have
> been on the phone with Macromedia twice, and they promise that it is all
> compliant, but then I've also seen the accessibility blog from them
> outlining this exact problem. Go figure.....

Probaly not AJAX but the Unobtrusive Flash Object method:

http://www.bobbyvandersluis.com/ufo/

--
Chris Heilmann
Blog: http://www.wait-till-i.com
Writing: http://icant.co.uk/
Binaries: http://www.onlinetools.org/

From: Debbie Charles
Date: Tue, Nov 01 2005 1:40PM
Subject: Flash problem--and Contribute problem.... (Andrew Kirkpatrick)
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<html>
<body>
Hi, 
Here is a link to three of the pages that get Bobby errors. All three
have a .swf file. 
<a href="http://workgroups.clemson.edu/DCIT2803_ETS_BETA/distance/showcase/captivate/index.htm">
http://workgroups.clemson.edu/DCIT2803_ETS_BETA/distance/showcase/captivate/index.htm<;/a>
 
<a href="http://workgroups.clemson.edu/DCIT2803_ETS_BETA/distance/0305_skaar/index.html" eudora="autourl">
http://workgroups.clemson.edu/DCIT2803_ETS_BETA/distance/0305_skaar/index.html<;br>
 
</a>
<a href="http://workgroups.clemson.edu/DCIT2803_ETS_BETA/distance/software/flashpaper.htm" eudora="autourl">
http://workgroups.clemson.edu/DCIT2803_ETS_BETA/distance/software/flashpaper.htm<;br>
 
</a>The errors are: 
a 
Provide alternative content for each OBJECT. 
m 
Make sure there is a link to download accessible plug-ins. 
 
This link has a .swf file with Javascript and passes Bobby

From: Andrew Kirkpatrick
Date: Tue, Nov 01 2005 2:20PM
Subject: RE: Flash problem--and Contribute problem.... (Andrew Kirkpatrick)
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OK, so you're using FlashObject. With that you get valid XHTML, and
because Bobby isn't interpreting the javascript it doesn't give you the
errors.

The resulting code is very much the same, whether created in javascript
or sitting in plain view in the HTML. For an IE user, there will still
be an object element, and the errors would be generated by Bobby if it
could see that.

Circumventing the testing tool doesn't necessarily constitute fixing the
problem, but let's look at whether there is a problem:
1) Provide alternative content for each OBJECT.
The flash content that you have could have better support for
accessibility. Captivate does a good job at adding the right
information into the right places for screen readers, but something
about the content is not being interpreted correctly because I'm getting
one letter per line when I read the opening slide, and some of the text
is not read at all. That's one form of the alternative for the object,
and if the SWF is accessible that would satisfy the requirements of
section 508. If you want to have an alternative for people who aren't
running Flash, then Flash Object helped you accomplish that. You could
also use nested objects, which uses IE-specific comments to hide the
object element replacement content.

2) Make sure there is a link to download accessible plug-ins.
This happens automatically in Flash as part of the object element -
<object classid="clsid:D27CDB6E-AE6D-11cf-96B8-444553540000"
codebase="http://download.macromedia.com/pub/shockwave/cabs/flash/swflas
h.cab#version=6,0,29,0" width="800" height="500" ID="Captivate1">

That URL will bring the user to the right download location, and the
browser mediates this process.

This link has a .swf file with Javascript and passes Bobby....it's
probably easier to "view source" for this one and one of the "error"
ones to see the javascript. We used to "fix" our Flash issue and it
seems to work with all browsers, but again, it isn't realistic when
using Contribute or for those people like myself who know only enough
programming to be dangerous or for most of our Web masters who really
rely on Dreamweaver to do everything for them if they work on a site
that is not managed with Contribute.

You could modify the flash.js file at C:Program
FilesMacromediaContribute 3ConfigurationObjectsMedia if this really
bugged you. We've got an eye on the issue here and will look into it
further for future releases.

http://workgroups.clemson.edu/DCIT2803_ETS_BETA/distance/

Interestingly, I have had a JAWS user navigate all three pages, and he
is able to do so.....

I bet you didn't have a JAWS user navigate the "good" page tthough!
You're using
fo.addParam("wmode", "opaque");
in the flashObject, which effectively makes the Flash invisible to JAWS.
I'd get rid of that line...

AWK