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

[Erik Mattheis]

Obviously, Flash is not your mainstay, maybe Flash has limited use in
all the projects that come across your desk. If you would have said,
OK you seem to be a Flash proponent, so I ask you, what do you use it
for?" I might have answered with a list of stuff I've used it for
recently:

- To display graphics that use a lot less bandwidth than non-vector graphics
- To display constantly updated real time data
- To demonstrate a product in an on-line sales presentation
- To create a compact hierarchical navigation system easily updated
through a datasource - that works in any browser that supports
active-X or plug-ins - even Navigator 3
- To create an attractive countdown timer
- To create a hip site appealing to a target demographic that loves
gratuitous animation and websites that make irritating sounds
- currently on my docket, a chatroom that will work perfectly for
everyone with the Player, no buggy Java needed

>Here's the thing.  How can Flash be used today?  Here are the options as I
>see it:
>
>1. Complete Flash Site
>(Bad for all the reasons already mentioned.)
>
>2. Flash Navigation
>(Bad for accessibility.  Having an alternate version makes the Flash
>version moot here.)
>
>3. Flash Elements ("We can do a spinning logo or flaming logo.")
>(The bulk of Flash's usage and usually pointless.  Done most often to make
>clients happy that their logo moves.)
>
>4. Flash Ads
>(Which, of course, drive everybody nuts, and if the general public figures
>out how to switch "Run ActiveX controls and plug-ins" to "Disable" or
>"Prompt", Flash is screwed.)
>
>5. Flash "Extras"
>(Probably the best use of Flash.  Games or photo galleries or
>whatever.  It's not forced, it's not required, but it provides something
>useful and extra that the user can't do otherwise.)

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- Erik Mattheis

(612) 377 2272
http://goZz.com/

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