w3c standards and embedding Flash

[pagey_3]

I am building a new site for our company, and am checking the w3c validation. I have managed to get it down to 8 errors on each (from about 800!) but the remaining 8 errors on every page relate to the flash movie I have in my header. It says things like the following:

Line 41, column 149: there is no attribute "WIDTH"

...application/x-shockwave-flash" width="525" height="170"></embed></object>

It also says that there is no attribute embed, or height, but only in relation to the flash movie.

It also picks up on the following:

Line 64, column 19: there is no attribute "BACKGROUND"

<td background="images/dot.gif" width="1"><img src="images/pixel.gif" width=

but I use this style throughout the page yet it only picks it up once.

Using css I have really tightened up my code on this site and got the errors down, but I do not know how to fix the errors relating to the flash movie.

Does anyone know how to do this? I use dreamweaver so it has written this code automatically - there are no typing errors or similar I have checked!

thank you for your help

[zollerwagner]

I can point out one issue. On a background, you can't specify a width and height like you would with an image tag.

Actually, you can probably do the background on the <TD> with css instead of doing it in the HTML. That would get rid of your validation issues.

What is the tag you're using with a width for the Flash element? <embed>? Do you have a src="" attribute? Do you have a <noembed> following it?

You may want to look at this example [w3.org].

[dcrombie]

Except that the example they use also fails to validate for the same reasons.

I'm not sure if there is a 'clean' way to include a Flash element on a page. The only way I've found to avoid validation errors is to write out the whole tag using JavaScript...

[Robin_reala]

There are a few ways to embed flash cleanly - I use a chopped down verison of Flash Satay [macromedia.com] without the container movie as the stuff I do doesn't need to stream.

[edited by: tedster at 4:54 pm (utc) on Mar. 1, 2005]
[edit reason] fix link [/edit]

[pagey_3]

Hi that link didn't work for me - pls could you explain it a bit more? I'm more of a designer than a coder!

[Robin_reala]

Sorry, I messed the previous link up and don't seem to be able to edit it now. Here's a fixed version:

Hah, alright, WebmasterWorld isn't letting me post a link to that domain. If you google for Flash Satay you'll find what you want.

Moderator Note: Here's a reprint at Macromedia:
[macromedia.com...]
I also changed the original link to point to the MM site.

[edited by: tedster at 5:02 pm (utc) on Mar. 1, 2005]

[pagey_3]

Thank you that was a massive help I am now fully validated - a list apart saves the day again!