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February 14, 2006
MS browser changes
MS browser changes: Microsoft details some of the effects of a change to ActiveX handling in a future version of the browser. The biggest difference is that such browsers will mandate a click in ActiveX screen area for user interactivity -- if you've been following the Eolas news over the years then this seems a lot less onerous than what we all were looking at back in 2004. I've heard there will be orientation material up on the Adobe site soon, but it's still unclear to me when and how this browser change will actually ship, and how many people it would actually affect in what timeframe. Red flags: This Microsoft document notes some problems in current testing: window scrolling, DHTML "wmode" layering, CSS settings, Google Toolbar issue, and I can't tell if these will be addressed before consumer distribution.
Update: [Additional blogsearch terms: eolas, patent, activex, Active Content]
Posted by John Dowdell at February 14, 2006 03:05 PM
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Hi JD,
Just installed the ActiveX patch and ran some experiments:
1. When user's cursor hovers over a SWF, a border appears around it. The SWF does not respond to mouse-overs or clicks until user first clicks the movie. Then, it seems to behave as normal.
2. When using the keyboard, when first tabbing into a movie, the above-mentioned border appears around the SWF, along with text telling the user to press space bar or enter key to begin interacting with the SWF. After doing so, the movie behaves as normal.
3. XML loading seems uneffected, meaning that the SWF will load the XML without the user first clicking it.
Every site visited displayed the same behavior. We tested this using SWFs embedded with object tags as well as doc.writes, and got the same results. We didn't test with SWFs that use video streams or other FMS functionality, nor did we check accessibility using JAWS.
Do you think a letter-writing campaign might help?
Mike
Posted by: Mike at February 14, 2006 09:51 PM
Thanks for the check, Mike. I didn't see a download link on that page... I'm guessing you might be in a Microsoft early-access program, but if I missed something in the public record then please advise, thanks.
It's hard for us at Adobe to give an early-warning on this, because things are still changing on the Microsoft end, but one of the big priorities in the office here is to make sure customers don't get caught between this technology change and their clients' needs. Once Microsoft goes live then it will be easier for others to discuss.
Thanks for that testing and your report, though -- I appreciate it.
Posted by: John Dowdell at February 15, 2006 11:31 AM
Hi again, JD,
There's an inaccuracy in my above note. It looks like I had JS debugging turned on (under Tools | Internet Options | Advanced). When it is turned off, SWFs with object tags that are doc.written works as before. Haven't tested it yet when we put object tag on the page using innerHTML.
Mike
Posted by: Mike K at February 17, 2006 08:21 AM