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Re: XHTML tab order and Flash

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From: Steven Henderson
Date: Aug 18, 2009 8:30AM

Funnily enough Jim, I used to test in IE first, but with all of IE's
accessibility shortcomings have not noticed that the tab issue is in Firefox
(which I use by default these days).

This makes the whole issue even more of a conundrum ... would people that
would truely benefit from accessible design, in fact use IE? That said, of
course I make provisions to cater for IE users, just hadn't paid attention
to how tabbing differs between browsers ... I recall Mac's having their own
issue with random tab support last year too, which is one of many reasons I
myself don't define tab ordering as Andrew suggested.

That said, Andrew, I agree with making Flash items themselves keyboard
accessible but that is a separate issue with its own problems and as such I
want to concentrate on the scenario of tabbing from HTML to Flash. Taking
your example of sIFR though, I don't recall coming across an example that
supports tabbing between XHTML and Flash ... least not that works with
Firefox. That adobe link you sent too, doesn't that just deal with the tab
focus range 'once inside Flash'? I had come across documentation on this
issue, but I'm primarily concerned about how to ensure that users can tab
'into' a Flash item before letting them out.

Darn, this has so many levels to worry about that it is almost making me
consider ditching some Flash features I had in mind.

That said, I believe Firefox users are more likely to update their browser
than IE users, so the question is how/when can we ensure Firefox users can
tab into Flash ... there is too much concentration at the moment to assume
that users can 'click into' Flash items to take advantage of Flash's
accessibility offerings ... a real oversight in opinion.

Thanks for your thoughts guys ... it's given me a few more things to think
about.

Steven