Lila's First Example

From Better Practices

[edit] Before

Original Web Page: http://mathdemos.gcsu.edu/accessiblemath, a site under construction.

XHTML Validation Failed

Notes:
1. Many errors involved basic errors in coding, such as mis-matched tags.
2. A more serious error involved existence of an embedded flash object. Original code for flash object, generated by publishing to html in Flash:
• <object classid="clsid:D27CDB6E-AE6D-11cf-96B8-444553540000" codebase="http://download.macromedia.com/pub/shockwave/cabs/flash/swflash.cab#version=6,0,29,0" summary="Link to Flash Narration of Page" width="60" height="60"> <param name="movie" value="narrationformain.swf" /> <param name="quality" value="high" /> <embed src="narrationformain.swf" quality="high" pluginspage="http://www.macromedia.com/go/getflashplayer" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="60" height="60"></embed> </object>

[edit] After

Revised Web Page: http://mathdemos.gcsu.edu/accessiblemath/accessiblemathtest/index_after.html

Notes:
1. Revised code for flash object (adapted from http://www.alistapart.com/articles/flashsatay/):
• <object type="application/x-shockwave-flash" data="narration_main.swf" width="200" height="125"> <param name="movie" value="narration_main.swf" /> <param name="allowScriptAccess" value="sameDomain" /> <param name = "BGColor" value = "#FFFFFF" /> <a title="You must install the Flash Plugin for your Browser in order to view this movie." href="http://www.adobe.com"><img src="needflash.gif" width="200" height="125" alt="Placeholder for Flash Plugin"/></a></object>
2. The above code works in IE6, Safari, Firefox (Mac--Windows not tested). Apparently for longer media files, this approach may not work in IE.
3. Another note about this code is that in Firefox, upon refreshing the page, sometimes a streaming error occurs, indicating a possible problem.
4. Another option may be to use a javascript function a la http://www.webmonkey.com/webmonkey/05/42/index4a_page3.html?tw=design.
5. Incidentally, the CSS sheets (there is one main sheet and two alternative sheets) for this page validate. It also passes the "Cynthia Says" Web Content Accessibility Report (Section 508 and WAI--Web Accessibility Initiative).
6. Still to do: Revise header image. Make links work. Etc...</ul>
   QUERY
   Is it better to have code that validates or are there some errors that we can ignore? Of course, if your code doesn't validate, you can't include the W3C icon on your page! ;-).