The Web Standards Project is wrong on SWFObject
As for SWFObject, it serves a purpose that I might have someday in the face of a tight deadline, relaxed project requirements, or a requirement for the most recent version of Flash. However, I’ve been through every line of SWFObject’s code and can state with confidence that while it obeys the letter of the W3C Recommendations, it totally disregards their spirit.
I must always be faced with tight deadlines and relaxed project requirements because I use SWFObject quite often.
So if we shouldn't use SWFObject, what is Ben's recommendation? Apparently, according to The Web Standards Project, we are supposed to use methods that embed SWF files using only the Object tag. If you feel that there's a distinct disconnect between this recommendation and your own experience of reality as a Flash developer, join the club! I'm not going to go into detail about why this is such a bad idea here as Geoff Stearns has already done a great job of responding on his blog post. I believe that the following quote from his post summarizes it best:
Using only the object tag to embed your plugin content (especially Flash content) is fucking stupid.
I highly recommend that you read Geoff's post and I have to say that I agree wholeheartedly with it both in letter and in spirit.
The The Web Standards Project is wrong on SWFObject article by Aral Balkan, unless otherwise expressly stated, is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial 2.0 UK: England License.
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Sandip Saini
Melatonina Melatonine
Ken Simpson
Gabriela Portilla
Brandon Ellis
“I’ve been through every line of SWFObject’s code and can state with confidence that while it obeys the letter of the W3C Recommendations, it totally disregards their spirit”
That is one lame sentence.
I’ve always been a huge voice for Web Standards because they work. But I think that using Javascript solutions to common web problems is perfectly acceptable. By writing code that renders mark up to that standard is completely in the spirit of WASP’s goals. Some of these WASP folks are the same people that wrote about ghetto css hacks a few years back but I didn’t hear anyone from WASP complaining about THAT disregarding the spirit. Truly amazing.
August 17th, 2006 at 4:02 amaral
Brandon, I couldn’t agree with you more and I’ll go one further: It seems like the Embed vs. Object matter has become something of a pissing contest for The Web Standards Project, reality be damned. Object is their darling but is *not* a standard. You can yell till you’re blue in the face but if something doesn’t work across the board, I wouldn’t call it a standard. On the other hand, there’s the perfectly valid Embed tag which, for some reason (The Web Standards history page doesn’t mention why) is the black sheep in the family even though it works in every browser. Hmm… so let’s see, Embed works the same way in every browser. Wow! Sounds pretty *standard* to me! So why, apart from ego, isn’t Embed written into the standard? Web standards and practicality should not be polar opposites if the movement is to have relevance.
August 17th, 2006 at 12:01 pmOlly
IIRC, embed wasn’t included because it doesn’t allow for fallback content (unlike object).
Of course it’s all a moot point, because IE cocked up their implementation of object and now everybody has to stay compatible with that…
August 17th, 2006 at 3:21 pmLEE
I think MS is behind this in their secret subversive attempt to destroy the future of Flash…okay maybe not but seriously, I love SWF Object, and so do all my clients and users…I only wish I had more clients and users, sigh.
THX for the heads up, aral! Geoff’s article is the truth.
August 18th, 2006 at 5:34 pm