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Talklets - ActiveX and Other Settings (was DesignPrinciples for Cognitive Disabilities)

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From: Philip Kiff
Date: Nov 9, 2006 11:30AM

Phil Teare wrote on 9 November 2006 12:08:
> Coockies are also advised...

It appears that enabling cookies is not absolutely necessary but it will
allow the toolbar settings to carry over from one page to the next.


Phil Teare wrote on 9 November 2006 12:05:
> The system is tailored to the majority...
>
> It uses Javascript and audio plugins (in IE thats an ActiveX)
> [...]
> For all out of the box installs, it should work for XP, Vista, OS x on
> IE5.5and 6, Safari, and Firefox. Opera is not yet supported.

My XP install has stripped out some of the default XP files using XPLite, so
it is not an out of the box install. I've also done some fiddling with
Windows Media Player codecs, and may not have Firefox set up to use
standard/expected audio codecs any longer, I'm not sure.

Talklets works fine now in MSIE with the correct ActiveX settings (see
below), but Firefox still says I'm missing a plugin, and cannot identify or
find the missing plugin online.


> So you've been very unlucky. Its the bain of of developers that there
> will always be poeple in your position who use a sytem the is either
> incompatible, or set not to use their tech.

Fair enough, though it is also one of the reasons why I hesitate before
encouraging people to use solutions that require plugins or scripts of any
sort as an accessibility aid. In the context of a free public terminal,
such as a library computer for instance, different sysadmins will configure
IE and other browsers with all kinds of restrictions in order to make system
maintenance easier. In the event that a user is forced to use such a
computer, it is best if the technology has a means of "degrading
gracefully". In this case, it might be best not to have the toolbar appear
at all if it is not able to function correctly based on a user's base
install and browser settings. No doubt such conditional scripting would be
quite challenging, but that would nevertheless be my recommendation for a
best practice in the use of such a technology.


> I'd love more detail on you FF problem as it should (does) work with
> audio pugins installed. Opera is on the "Future" devcycle list. Which
> means not immediate, but should happen within the year.
>
> If you prevent ActiveX in IE then it can't work, as you've switched
> off the tech needed.

In case others are interested as well, here are the ActiveX settings that
work with Talklets.com on my install of MSIE 6.0 for Windows. Where
multiple options are available they are separated by a slash mark.

Internet Options -> Security -> ActiveX:

Enable/Disable: Automatic Prompting for ActiveX controls (not needed)

Disable: Binary and script behaviours (not needed)
Disable: Download signed ActiveX controls (not needed)
Disable: Download unsigned ActiveX controls (not needed)
Disable: Initialize and script ActiveX controls not marked as safe (not
needed)

Prompt/Enable: Run ActiveX controls and plug-ins (required)
Prompt/Enable: Script ActiveX controls marked safe for scripting (required)


> One solution coming soon is a Flash version. This will add 'out of
> the box' compatibility with Ubuntu.
>
> Like I say, get in touch re the ff problem.
> (phil.a.teare#AT#Googlemail.com)
>
> Cheers
> Phil
>
>
>
> On 09/11/06, Philip Kiff wrote:
>>
>> Phil Teare wrote on 9 November 2006 04:18:
>>> [....]Now
>>> that audio is available to most why not offer it (interest declared,
>>> but please do try www.talklets.com , it starts at free.)
>>
>> I just tried to check out Talklets on a few of my main browsers but
>> it's not running correctly with my current settings. I usually have
>> all my browsers set with ActiveX disabled, as well as a fairly high
>> level of security/privacy/cookies/control protection against scripts
>> and plugins, so I'm sure the problem is related to those settings.
>> But I don't have time to figure out what needs to be enabled on each
>> browser.
>>
>> Do you have a simple list of what
>> security/cookie/JavaScript/ActiveX/plugin
>> settings need to be enabled/disabled for Talklets to work?
>>
>> OS:
>> XP SP2
>>
>> Browsers:
>>
>> Opera 9.02
>> - no toolbar shows
>> - no warning or notice displayed
>>
>> MSIE 6.0
>> - toolbar shows, text will highlight, but no sound
>> - top of window warning saying that ActiveX is not enabled and may
>> prevent page from displaying properly
>>
>> Firefox 1.5.0.7
>> - toolbar shows, text will highlight, but no sound
>> - top of window message saying that additional plugins are required
>> to display all the media on this page, but clicking for more info
>> says no suitable plugin found
>>
>> Phil.
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
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