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Re: XHTML tab order and Flash

for

From: Steven Henderson
Date: Sep 9, 2009 3:00AM

I've been hacking my head around how they've done it, but webcredible seem
to have a much tighter tab setup. Check it out: http://www.webcredible.co.uk
- check out how tabbing to and from, the main nav banner works.

The flash/html tab integration is almost seemless, apart from just the 'one'
extra tab to select the flash object (appears that this is presently
unavoidable in their method too).

After a few basic local tests, the only con appears to be that the tabindex
seems to be hardest to 2 (no matter where I put the tabindex in the
document, the second tab will always activate the flash nav banner).
Assuming that this is set in either the js file or flash movie, I can see it
working great for many sites that can make use of a defined tabindex
(especially where there is one main flash object that needs tab
integration).

Now, if only I could wrap my head around how they've tightened the tab
process, then merge both methods together to create an uber-method.

Steven





-----Original Message-----
From: <EMAIL REMOVED>
[mailto: <EMAIL REMOVED> ] On Behalf Of Andrew
Kirkpatrick
Sent: 18 August 2009 14:50
To: WebAIM Discussion List
Subject: Re: [WebAIM] XHTML tab order and Flash

Having read about and deployed a fair amount of accessible XHTML there is a
big grey area that I see with Flash. I understand using techniques such as
swfobject allow graceful Flash features to be available in place of XHTML,
which is great for screen readers or non-Flash users as they won't need to
know Flash is there (Flash visually pimps what is available to everyone else
in XHTML).

The use of sIFR or other similar replacement techniques can be used
successfully and is most easily done so when the goal is just to offer a
bunch of text, except in a specific font that isn't normally available.

If you start including interactive elements in the SWF, you absolutely need
to ensure that the Flash is keyboard accessible. This is easy to
accomplish, but can't be left up to chance - you need to make sure to define
the tab order and reading order carefully.

Try the example posted with this blog entry to see how it works from the
keyboard for you:
http://blogs.adobe.com/accessibility/2009/04/firefox_focus_and_actual_links_
1.html

Hope this helps,
AWK


Now, my query is, where do people with mobility difficulties fit into the
picture? Tabbing an XHTML page will skip Flash objects from my experience
... but in my view, people with mobility difficulties are just as likely to
be visually capable as your stereotypical Flash users, thus they would
surely engage with the page using a form of tabbing? And if so, what
advantages does swfobject or other accessible Flash solutions offer these
people? As under these circumstances, they would have to find another way to
engage with a Flash feature, or would they?



I would be very interested in other people's opinions and experiences with
mobility users regarding mixed XHTML/Flash content.



Steven