Re: Flash Alternates

Hi Rob...

I concur with Charles on both his points.  

The first user case is kind of neat as long as you can provide meaningful
alt-text.  

In the second case, using Javascript (which, don't forget, is unusable by
some agents) to fix the fact that another plugin is inaccessible doesn't
seem like a good solution.  Also, please remember: OBJECT does NOT support
the ALT attribute!  In OBJECT, the equivalent of alt-text would be the
descriptive text you put between the start and end tags: E.g.

<OBJECT ...> textual alternative </OBJECT>

The textual alternative will be displayed if the application or document
type specified in <OBJECT ...> is not supported by the user's agent.

Also, remember that OBJECTs can be stacked:

<OBJECT ... e.g.. shockwave>
	<OBJECT ... e.g.. quicktime>
		<OBJECT ... e.g.. gif image>
			textual alternative
		</OBJECT>
	</OBJECT>
</OBJECT>

If you do have shockwave, then it will run.  
If you don't have shockwave but do have quicktime then that will run.  
If you have neither shockwave nor quicktime, but do have image display
enabled, then the gif file will load. 
And finally, if you support none of the audio formats, then the textual
alternative will be rendered.

Hence, graceful degradation.

Regards,
Chuck

At 04/11/99 02:12 PM , you 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>
>

----
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Received on Thursday, 4 November 1999 15:14:37 UTC