From petri.1 at osu.edu Thu Sep 24 11:43:32 2009 From: petri.1 at osu.edu (Ken Petri) Date: Thu Sep 24 11:43:54 2009 Subject: [wac] IE made inaccessible by Google Chrome Frame Message-ID: Hi all, Please forgive the cross-postings. I'm sure most of you are already aware of the release of Google Chrome Frame, a plug-in for IE6 and above, which brings the super-fast JavaScript performance and HTML5 capabilities of the Google Chrome browser to Internet Explorer. The plug-in installs easily and allows IE to work with web sites and applications that implement CSS3 (fonts, colors, effects) and HTML5 (canvas and other new tags). Web site/app developers can trigger the Chrome Frame with a meta tag in the page head and, with a bit of JavaScript, prompt the IE user to install the plug-in if she hasn't done so already. Online journals are talking-up Chrome Frame--for example, see ComputerWorld--and I have seen a couple of developers responding to say that they are using the Chrome Frame meta tag and install prompt snippet. Though Chrome is a robust and blazingly fast browser and it's certainly a good thing to be able goose IE to perform like a real browser, there remains a very significant caveat: The Chrome Frame plug-in prevents assistive technologies, such as screen readers, from accessing site/app content. Neither Chrome Frame nor the Google Chrome browser communicates with MSAA, the accessibility layer in Windows. This effectively hides all web page content from AT. For more information, see "Google Chrome Frame - Accessibility black hole" by Steven Faulkner of the Paciello Group. Developers: Until Chrome Frame corrects its access issues, please do not use the meta-tag trigger in your web pages or applications. Also IT support staff should be aware of possible problems for users with disabilities who may have been prompted to install the plug-in. Thanks! ken ------------------------------------------------------- Ken Petri Program Director OSU Web Accessibility Center 102D Pomerene Hall 1760 Neil Avenue Columbus, Ohio 43210 Phone: (614) 292-1760 Fax: (614) 292-4190 mailto:petri.1@osu.edu ------------------------------------------------------- -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://behemoth.wac.ohio-state.edu/pipermail/wac/attachments/20090924/5d5e2ae3/attachment.html