Re: Flash Alternates

For the first use case you are seving another type of image - in this case a
.gif

Good idea. The URI of the image is irrelevant really, although if ti has to
be evaluated each time and can't be cached it is pretty inefficient.

The second case seems like a horrendous piece of javascript to do something
pretty simple - the OBJECT element naturally provides a fall through so you
don't need to test if it is supported. You do need to give it real and useful
content as part of the eleement content - that's why it doesn't have an alt
attribute. If you are going to use embed (which will not validate) then you
should use it inside the object element, add a gif in the noembed section,
and you're just about there. I think (but am not sure) that embed
implementations check wheter you have the player (object does) so you can do
away with the script altogether (which is good. I can put a shockwave plugin
into amaya, but i can't run the script that would let me use the
plugin in the model below)

Cheers

Charles

On Thu, 4 Nov 1999, Neff, Robert wrote:

  Charles, Chuck, and everyone else,
  
  Want to revisit how to make macromedia accessible.  We have developed two
  uses cases that one could use for a Macromedia FIX.  What do you think?  Pls
  pass around.  The purpose as previously mentioned by Wendy and possibly
  Charles would be to put this in the techniques document.
  
  /rob
  
  
  ----------------------------------------
  
  Use Case 1: Resulting image being created by Generator is a simple
  (non-interactive) animation or a static image; users may or may not have the
  Flash plug-in installed; and an ALT tag is required.
  Description: Generator can dynamically output a .gif stream instead of a
  Flash stream by  adding the "type=" parameter and an appropriate value.
  Example:
  		<IMG
  	
  SRC="http://path/flashtemplate.swt?type=gif&param1=val1&param2=val2
  <http://path/flashtemplate.swt?type=gif&param1=val1&param2=val2> "
  		HEIGHT="111" BORDER="0" WIDTH="222" NATURALSIZEFLAG="1"
  ALIGN="BOTTOM"
  		ALT="Description of the Image"
  		>
  Critical Elements: The "type=gif" parameter/value.
  
  Use Case 2: Provide code that will determine (via Javascript) if the user
  has installed the Flash plug-in, and provide an alternate image if they have
  not.
  Description: This code is derived from the code automatically generated by
  Flash 4.  It is modified to merely trigger on the presence of the Flash
  plug-in.
  Example:
  <!-- Image Map -->
  <MAP NAME="AK"></MAP>
  <SCRIPT LANGUAGE=JavaScript>
  <!--
  var UseFlash = 0;
  if (navigator.mimeTypes &&
  navigator.mimeTypes["application/x-shockwave-flash"] ) {
  		// Check for Flash version 3 or greater in Netscape
  		var plugin =
  navigator.mimeTypes["application/x-shockwave-flash"].enabledPlugin;
  		if (plugin &&
  parseInt(plugin.description.substring(plugin.description.indexOf(".")-1))>=3
  )
  	UseFlash = 1;
  } else if (navigator.appName && navigator.appName.indexOf("Microsoft") != -1
  &&
  		navigator.userAgent.indexOf("Windows") != -1 &&
  navigator.userAgent.indexOf("Windows 3.1") == -1) {
  		// Assume any Windows IE except for Windows 3.1 supports the
  OBJECT tag UseFlash = 1;
  }
  if ( UseFlash ) {
  		// Use Flash player
  		// Although these alt tags do not apparently seem to be
  supported with the
  plug-in,
  		// they are included on the chance they are supported in an
  upgrade
  		document.write('<OBJECT ALT="Object Map of Alaska"
  classid="clsid:D27CDB6E-AE6D-11cf-96B8-444553540000"');
  document.write('
  codebase="http://active.macromedia.com/flash2/cabs/swflash.cab#version=4,0,0
  ,0"');
  	document.write(' ID=AK WIDTHU0 HEIGHT35>');
  	//
  	// the next 'document.write' line will need to be modified to point
  to your
  file and to use your params
  	//
  	document.write('<PARAM NAME=movie
  VALUE="http://path/flashtemplate.swt?param1=val1&param2=val2
  <http://path/flashtemplate.swt?param1=val1&param2=val2> "> <PARAM
  NAME=quality VALUE=high> <PARAM NAME=bgcolor VALUE=#FFFFFF> ');
  	//
  	// the next 'document.write' line will need to be modified to point
  to your
  file and to use your params
  	//
  document.write('<EMBED ALT="Embed Map of Alaska"
  src="http://path/flashtemplate.swt?param1=val1&param2=val2
  <http://path/flashtemplate.swt?param1=val1&param2=val2> " quality=high
  bgcolor=#FFFFFF ');
  		document.write(' swLiveConnectúLSE WIDTHU0 HEIGHT35');
  		document.write(' TYPE="application/x-shockwave-flash"
  PLUGINSPAGE="http://www.macromedia.com/shockwave/download/index.cgi?P1_Prod_
  Version=ShockwaveFlash">');
  	document.write('</EMBED>'); document.write('</OBJECT>');
  } else if (!(navigator.appName && navigator.appName.indexOf("Netscape")>=0
  && navigator.appVersion.indexOf("2.")>=0)) {
  	// Netscape 2 will display the IMG tag below so don't write an extra
  one
  	// You will need to modify the SRC param
  	document.write('<IMG
  SRC="http://path/flashtemplate.swt?type=gif&param1=val1&param2=val2
  <http://path/flashtemplate.swt?type=gif&param1=val1&param2=val2> " ALT="GIF
  Object Map of Alaska" WIDTHU0 HEIGHT35 BORDER=0>');
  }
  //-->
  </SCRIPT>
  // You will need to modify the SRC param as follows
  <NOEMBED><IMG
  SRC="http://path/flashtemplate.swt?type=gif&param1=val1&param2=val2
  <http://path/flashtemplate.swt?type=gif&param1=val1&param2=val2> "
  ALT="NOEMBED GIF Object Map of Alaska" WIDTHU0 HEIGHT35 usemap="#AK"
  BORDER=0></NOEMBED>
  // You will need to modify the SRC param as follows
  <NOSCRIPT><IMG
  SRC="http://path/flashtemplate.swt?type=gif&param1=val1&param2=val2
  <http://path/flashtemplate.swt?type=gif&param1=val1&param2=val2> "
  ALT="NOSCRIPT GIF Object Map of Alaska" WIDTHU0 HEIGHT35 usemap="#AK"
  BORDER=0></NOSCRIPT>
  

--Charles McCathieNevile            mailto:charles@w3.org
phone: +1 617 258 0992   http://www.w3.org/People/Charles
W3C Web Accessibility Initiative    http://www.w3.org/WAI
MIT/LCS  -  545 Technology sq., Cambridge MA, 02139,  USA

Received on Thursday, 4 November 1999 14:24:40 UTC