Audio in WordPress
Since this is a music blog, I obviously will want to post music. Since this is an HTML5 WordPress template, I’m interested in exploring the feasibility of using the HTML5 <audio> element. I downloaded and installed Pavel Soukenik’s Degradable HTML5 audio and video plug-in, which provides the desired functionality, along with graceful degradation (a lightweight Flash players) for users whose browsers don’t yet support HTML5 audio.
At the time of this blog post, the HTML5 audio player works in several browsers, but there are a few issues that need to be resolved:
- The plug-in results in failed HTML5 validation. This is partly due to the challenges of keeping up with a still-evolving HTML5 spec, but not entirely: there are other errors too.
- The HTML5 audio player added by the plug-in isn’t accessible by keyboard. I think adding a tabindex should fix that.
- The player controls in the HTML5 audio element are not yet accessible to screen reader users. Until that support is provided, I’ll need to build my own accessible player controls – stay tuned for that development.
Meanwhile, for those of you who can access it (and my apologies to those who can’t), the following example features "Man With Small F (The Inaccessible PDF Song)", off the Flow Theory "Flavors" CD. For more on Flow Theory, check out flowtheory.info: