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Re: Flash (swf) object and alternatives

for

From: Paul Collins
Date: Sep 12, 2006 7:30AM

> Its self-voicing capabilities can eliminate the need for a
screenreader,

I guess the problem here is that people generally don't incorporate this into the budget, they merely want to meet basic accessibility requirements. With this in mind I would like to do my best to make the site accessible, by way of providing alternative content. I will also ensure the Flash developer turns accessibility features on in Flash as they work.

> The user of the screen reader will get the Flash if the screenreader
supports it.

With this in mind, is it worth putting your alternative Flash content in the fallback div (id="flashcontent") at all or should this just be text telling you to get Flash? Then, I guess you could provide a visible link to a new page that has the content, perhaps linking it from the flashcontent div also. This way people could make an informed decision to go to the HTML version if the Flash file wasn't working well enough with their screenreader.

Does this make sense to anyone and do they have a better idea?!

Cheers
Paul






----- Original Message -----
From: Alastair Campbell
To: WebAIM Discussion List
Sent: Tuesday, September 12, 2006 12:56 PM
Subject: RE: [WebAIM] Flash (swf) object and alternatives


Karl Groves wrote:
> Its self-voicing capabilities can eliminate the need for a
screenreader,

Well, apart from the person being able to open a browser and get to the
flash in the first place!

> scalable graphics can make it easy to enlarge things without
> bad distortion.

I agree, but it leads to one of my bugbears about Flash, perhaps you
know about this? Why don't web sites let people make use of the
scalability?

So many sites lock the flash into a part of the window, or a pop-up with
a fixed size, meaning you can't easily scale it up. (Very frustrating on
a laptop with 16" screen and 1600x1200 resolution).

Does something go wrong when you increase the window size, or does it
just look wrong to the eagle eyed designer?

> All it takes is someone with a strong, in-depth knowledge of Flash.

Definitely, doesn't see to happen often :-/

Kind regards,

-Alastair