[thelist] flash accessibility/usability (was: Jakob Nielsen [was Anti-aliasing])

[.jeff]

erik,

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> From: Erik Mattheis
>
> > so, if they can be accomplished, why aren't more
> > people removing these stumbling blocks to the
> > usability/accessibility of flash?  answer -- it
> > takes too much work to discover all the built-in
> > browser functionality you need to include and then
> > build programming logic within your flash file to
> > handle.
>
> Agreed. But that doesn't equate to a conclusion that
> Flash is bad - this is what I'm arguing against -
> assuming that Flash is inherently bad because it can
> be difficult to learn how to use and when not to use
> it.
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agree 100%.  i wouldn't say that cars are bad because some people have used
them to kill people.  i wouldn't say that crayons are bad simply because my
2 year old colored on the kitchen in the house we rent.

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> > even if it did work, would it scroll the amount i have
> > my mousewheel configured to scroll at a time?
>
> I doubt it would work ... the reason I'm unsure about the
> scrollwheel thing is that Flash can tell what keys are
> being pressed just like you can in JavaScript, but I'm
> not sure whether the scrollwheel is visible to Flash.
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interestingly enough, ie6 now exposes the scrollwheel to the event model:

(watch for wrap)
http://msdn.microsoft.com/workshop/author/dhtml/reference/events/onmousewhee
l.asp

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> But again, same argument ... if the disadvantages of
> using Flash outweigh the advantages, it's most likely
> the best decision not to use Flash.
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if only more flash designers/developers thought the way you do.
unfortunately, that's so far from the case.

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> But if someone has made a movie that pisses Rudy off, it
> doesn't mean Flash is bad.
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it does if flash doesn't give the developer a way of configuring elements
within the flash movie that mimic rudy's accustomed behavior/ui.  if flash
*does* expose these things to the developer and they don't use them, then
shame on the developer.

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> Indeed, on sites I've done that have Flash and non-Flash
> versions, the Flash version is always the more popular
> one.
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that has absolutely nothing to do with the appeal or usability of flash
itself though.  it could simply mean that you didn't put the same effort
into the non-flash version as you did the flash version.

.jeff

http://evolt.org/
jeff at members.evolt.org
http://members.evolt.org/jeff/