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RE: Flash problem--and Contribute problem....

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From: Bob Regan
Date: Nov 1, 2005 7:40AM

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






-----Original Message-----
From: <EMAIL REMOVED>
[mailto: <EMAIL REMOVED> ] On Behalf Of Debbie
Charles
Sent: Tuesday, November 01, 2005 5:50 AM
To: <EMAIL REMOVED>
Subject: [WebAIM] Flash problem--and Contribute problem....

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