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Thread: plug-in/viewer links
Number of posts in this thread: 6 (In chronological order)
From: Cheryl Amato
Date: Fri, Jun 29 2007 6:00AM
Subject: plug-in/viewer links
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I am doing some work for an agency that puts lots of PDFs and Office documents online. Must a link to the appropriate plug-in or viewer be included on each and every page that accesses them, or can all links be provided on a separate page. Of course there would be a link to the plug-in page on the page requiring the plug-in.
I realize that HTML is always best but I have little or no control over that.
TIA
Cheryl Amato
From: Michael D. Roush
Date: Fri, Jun 29 2007 8:50AM
Subject: Re: plug-in/viewer links
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Cheryl Amato wrote:
> I am doing some work for an agency that puts lots of PDFs and Office documents online. Must a link to the appropriate plug-in or viewer be included on each and every page that accesses them, or can all links be provided on a separate page. Of course there would be a link to the plug-in page on the page requiring the plug-in.
>
> I realize that HTML is always best but I have little or no control over that.
>
I think this is a case of "it depends". If the agency in question is
shooting for Section 508 compliance (whether they are legally bound to
it or not), then the answer is yes, a link to the appropriate plug-in or
viewer must appear on the same page where the link to the proprietary
document format appears. See §1194.22(m):
(m) When a web page requires that an applet, plug-in or other
application be present on the client system to interpret page content,
the page must provide a link to a plug-in or applet that complies with
§1194.21(a) through (l).
If we're talking about various flavors of WCAG for our standard, WCAG
1.0 Guideline 11 is where we land. It basically says "use HTML/XML
instead or along with the other format(s)". However, the only Priority
1 Checkpoint in guideline 11 is 11.4, and it is one of the "if all else
fails" statements.
Now, if we're not all that worried about adhering to standards and only
concerned with a pragmatic "can the users get the info they want"
approach, I think PDF has become ubiquitous enough that not providing an
html equivalent won't make the information inaccessible to users. But,
whether I think so certainly won't change the opinions of some users out
there.
So, I guess the answer to your question is, "Only if the standard you
are designing for requires that such a link be placed on the page."
That standard may be one developed by an outside agent (508, WCAG, etc)
or one you develop yourself.
Michael
From: Golley, Shawn (Intern)
Date: Thu, Jul 05 2007 7:10AM
Subject: Re: plug-in/viewer links
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Responding to the second angle of your question, since Michael covered
the other aspect pretty thoroughly:
it is a good idea to provide links to a central downloads page where you
can provide access to all of the necessary viewers or plugins at once,
rather than placing individual links on each page. We at the PTO
switched to this method about two years ago. This will drastically
reduce the maintenance required should a plugin update in version or a
site redesign cause the download link to change.
Shawn H. Golley
Intern, Section 508 Compliance Division
US Patent and Trademark Office
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From: Keith Parks
Date: Thu, Jul 05 2007 1:40PM
Subject: Re: plug-in/viewer links
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On Jul 5, 2007, at 6:00 AM, Golley, Shawn (Intern) wrote:
> Responding to the second angle of your question, since Michael covered
> the other aspect pretty thoroughly:
>
> it is a good idea to provide links to a central downloads page
> where you
> can provide access to all of the necessary viewers or plugins at once,
> rather than placing individual links on each page. We at the PTO
> switched to this method about two years ago. This will drastically
> reduce the maintenance required should a plugin update in version or a
> site redesign cause the download link to change.
But if you are using any of the automated 508 checkers, this approach
technically would cause a page to fail, wouldn't it?
Aren't they programmed to look for a specific link, say to the
Acrobat download page?
******************************
Keith Parks
Graphic Designer/Web Designer
Student Affairs Communications Services
San Diego State University
San Diego, CA 92182-7444
(619) 594-1046
mailto: = EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED =
http://www.keithparks.com
http://www.sa.sdsu.edu/communications
----------------------------------------------------------
World Peace through Cascading Style Sheets.
From: smithj7
Date: Fri, Jul 06 2007 11:40PM
Subject: Re: plug-in/viewer links
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Kool idea. I have the links in the footer, which is generated using
SSI, so I can change it once everywhere. But the footer is getting
longer and longer as we also have required text and links (privacy
statement link, accessiblity statement link, a statement about email not
being public ect.) I could reduce my footer by about 5 links!!
From: smithj7
Date: Wed, Aug 22 2007 5:50PM
Subject: Re: plug-in/viewer links
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Michael,
I keep posts that I think I might need at some point in the future. I
like the way you responded. I need to meet 508 complaince.
Do you think 508 would allow a link to a page with the plugin link?
Currently, we have all plugin links in the footer. Speech users
complain. So from one of the other posts, I got the idea to put all the
plugin links on a page and was going to take them off the footer.