RE: access to plug-ins

It is my understanding that the use of plugins should be avoided if
possible:
 
Many non-W3C formats (e.g., PDF, Shockwave, etc.) require viewing with
either plug-ins or stand-alone applications. Often, these formats cannot
be viewed or navigated with standard
<http://www.w3.org/TR/WCAG10/#user-agent> user agents (including
<http://www.w3.org/TR/WCAG10/#assistive-tech> assistive technologies).
Avoiding non-W3C and non-standard features (proprietary elements,
attributes, properties, and extensions) will tend to make pages more
accessible to more people using a wider variety of hardware and
software. When inaccessible technologies (proprietary or not) must be
used, equivalent accessible pages must be provided. 
 
Therefore, I would say that if a plugin is required, alternative methods
of viewing the page should be offered to those who do not have the
plugin, cannot get the plugin (because they use a browser that does not
support plugins, e.g. Lynx), or don't want to wait hours for said plugin
to be downloaded - in some cases, such as Shockwave, the plugin is
downloaded and then the user has to wait while Shockwave downloads
further information to get the plugin to work.
 
In short, use them if necessary but offer an alternative.
 
I hope that this opinion helps.
 
Cheers
Sime
-----Original Message-----
From: Jason Megginson [mailto:jason@bartsite.com]
Sent: Thursday, January 24, 2002 16:48
To: w3c-wai-ig@w3.org
Subject: access to plug-ins


I am aware that a page must provide a link to a plug-in when the page
requires it.  My question though is this:
Does this rule pertain to only multimedia plug-ins or does it mean any
plug-in/application such as WinZip or any other tool that is not
involved in multimedia?
 
Thanks in advance for your help,
Jason
 

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