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From: Rob Quigley
Date: Mon, Oct 04 2004 3:42PM
Subject: Re: Welcome to the WebAIM Discussion List
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I've been ask to examine a streaming video-like product for a 508
compliant website. I know that alternate content page would need to
be provided for this if it was used. Product description and website
found at bottom of email.

I am very interested in your thoughts -- especially because it has
very specific requirments to be able to run (such as downloading an
active x control, flash 6.0 required, Windows 98 or greater & IE 5.0
or greater and utilizes cookies to store whether the flash file has
already played the flash file).

This product I believe essentially plays in a flash file modified to
play above the browser (just a guess). The upshot is that the product
requires that an indivual be video taped in front of a blue screen,
and then streamed with the flash player to look like they are standing
in front of the web page - that's the "oooh neato effect."

Knowing that it utilitzes such a specific grouping of software - how
would one best set this up to be used on a 508 compliant website and
what would be your top of the list reasons to not consider it at all
(eg - wouldn't streaming video a better way to go because it has
captioning available for the deaf and provided in a media format that
may be much more available to all web users?). Does the fact that the
product automatically starts upon page loading (I'm guessing it does
this) cause a problem with screen readers.

Thanks in advance for your thoughts on this,

Rob

Product found at http://www.rovion.com

Here's a bit from a website that uses it:

"Rovion BlueStream is essentially a video player. It allows short
video clips of WAVY-TV personalities to be played automatically on
your computer desktop when you visit certain pages with the
technology.Only those people who download Rovion BlueStream will be
able to see these video clips.

Rovion BlueStream is installed as part of your web browser. The
application is a very small piece of software (about 61kb) that
downloads and installs within seconds. We have tested the software
extensively and have found it to be safe and reliable.

The software will place a "cookie" on your computer only to track how
often to play the clip on your computer. For example, if you visit our
homepage several times a day, you probably wouldn't want to see the
clip each time. The cookie contains no personal information about you.

The requirements are:

* Windows 98, 2000, XP
* Internet Explorer 5.0 or greater, AOL
* Flash 6.0 or Greater

From: Austin, Darrel
Date: Mon, Oct 04 2004 3:52PM
Subject: Re: Welcome to the WebAIM Discussion List
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> I am very interested in your thoughts -- especially because it has
> very specific requirments to be able to run (such as downloading an
> active x control, flash 6.0 required, Windows 98 or greater & IE 5.0
> or greater and utilizes cookies to store whether the flash file has
> already played the flash file).

Well, right there it's not accessible to anyone not using Windows, or not
using IE on windows, or not using IE on windows with flash installed, or not
using IE on windows with flash installed and permissions to install activex
components on their machine.

;o)

> Knowing that it utilitzes such a specific grouping of software - how
> would one best set this up to be used on a 508 compliant website and
> what would be your top of the list reasons to not consider it at all

IMHO, it's proprietary software designed for one specific browser on one
specific operating system.

I guess the big question is what kind of content is this? Is it integral to
the site, or is it just something nice to have if you can see it?

Reading it, it just seems like a 'ooh! Neat!' bell and whistle and most
folks probably wouldn't miss it if they didn't see it to begin with.

-Darrel

From: Daniel Sears
Date: Tue, Oct 05 2004 2:00AM
Subject: Re: Welcome to the WebAIM Discussion List
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I nether thort I'd say this but this is a grate website.

Nice easy and interesting. You did well

Well...thanks for a grate website like blue stream

Might buy some products from it don't know yet.

From: Schuffman, Jan (General Services - ADA)
Date: Tue, Oct 05 2004 8:16AM
Subject: Re: Welcome to the WebAIM Discussion List
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I agree that its demands limit its audience, but as for
accessibility/usability issues, here's my 2 cents' worth of random
thoughts:

Although this might be a hard sell to the client, it's better to offer
visitors the choice of whether or not to use Flash. Sites that
automatically load and play Flash any time they detect a Flash player,
often leave screen-reader users in the cold. For example, in a
two-person household, one has normal vision so benefits from Flash, so
the Flash player is installed on the computer, which is shared with the
other person. The other person uses a screen-reader and would rather not
have to deal with Flash, but since the player is on the machine, most
sites auto-launch the Flash stuff. This is the situation for a couple
who are friends of mine.

Some screen-readers know what to do with properly (for accessibility)
constructed Flash, but that's a combination of two requirements that's
still pretty rare - Flash apps created to be accessible, and screen
readers that can render them.

Presuming a blind user has normal hearing, he/she will be able to hear
what the character says. It's important not to have the character refer
to things the blind visitor can't see on the screen.

If you're required to have that particular kind of animation, I agree
that you should absolutely have real-time captioning.

The blurb you cited says in part, "Only those people who download Rovion
BlueStream will be able to see these video clips." What happens on
machines that don't have BlueStream on them? If the site works perfectly
well on a machine without BlueStream, it may be less of a hassle. OTOH,
if the site throws up nag screens to try to get the visitor to download
BlueStream, that could be a problem, not only from a general
user-friendliness standpoint but from an accessibility point as well.

From: Darel Benysh
Date: Tue, Oct 05 2004 8:24AM
Subject: Re: Welcome to the WebAIM Discussion List
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From: Marc Faeh
Date: Wed, Oct 06 2004 4:05AM
Subject: Re: Welcome to the WebAIM Discussion List
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