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Thread: FlashPaper
Number of posts in this thread: 7 (In chronological order)
From: Kelly Hokkanen
Date: Mon, Jan 31 2005 7:26AM
Subject: FlashPaper
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Looking for your thoughts on whether Macromedia's FlashPaper would be
acceptable to use, from an accessibility standpoint. They claim it is
accessible. We have done some testing and found FlashPaper docs to be
readable by Window-Eyes and JAWS, but not by Home Page Reader. It also
does require the Flash plug-in. It has come up as a question because
it's included in Contribute 3, which many of our state webmasters here
are using. We would like to offer them guidelines as to whether or not
to use this option.
Thanks,
Kelly
Kelly Hokkanen
Director of Creative Services
InforME: Information Resource of Maine
www.maine.gov
From: Patrick Lauke
Date: Mon, Jan 31 2005 7:33AM
Subject: Re: FlashPaper
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> From: kelly
> Looking for your thoughts on whether Macromedia's FlashPaper would be
> acceptable to use, from an accessibility standpoint.
With practically *anything* that is not native HTML, there will always
be a fundamental accessibility issue: users need a plugin or similar to
access it. Regardless of whether or not, once they are able to access it,
the specific screenreader etc can see the content, there will always be
that one fundamental hurdle...
Patrick
________________________________
Patrick H. Lauke
Webmaster / University of Salford
http://www.salford.ac.uk
From: Michael Moore
Date: Mon, Jan 31 2005 7:59AM
Subject: Re: FlashPaper
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kelly wrote:
>
> Looking for your thoughts on whether Macromedia's FlashPaper would be
> acceptable to use, from an accessibility standpoint. They claim it is
> accessible. We have done some testing and found FlashPaper docs to be
> readable by Window-Eyes and JAWS, but not by Home Page Reader. It also
> does require the Flash plug-in. It has come up as a question because
> it's included in Contribute 3, which many of our state webmasters here
> are using. We would like to offer them guidelines as to whether or not
> to use this option.
>
When considering whether to add an additional technology to a web page I
believe that you should consider the following:
1. Is it accessible - can it be accessed with a keyboard, does it
include sound and if so does it provide captions that are accessible.
Does it work well with assistive technologies or does it require that
those users have specialized skills.
2. If it requires a plug in include a link to acquire that plug in and
remember that some users may not be able to install plug ins.
(Corporate/agency policys, antiquated browser, lack of knowledge)
3. Does the new technology bring a real benefit to users.
4. Will the technology require additional bandwidth, if so remember your
dial up users.
Add on technologies can often bring great improvements in terms of
usability for the vast majority of users and they are great for this
purpose, but the functionality or content that they bring must be
available through other means if the technology itself is not directly
accessible. The mantra that we use in our accessible development
training is to use these add ons to enhance usability but don't make the
functionality of your site Dependant upon them.
Mike
From: Austin, Darrel
Date: Mon, Jan 31 2005 8:34AM
Subject: Re: FlashPaper
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> which many of our state webmasters here
> are using.
As a state webmaster, I can say (IMHO) that the bigger accessibility problem
is that there is still an unhealthy dependance on 'paper' in government.
That's in no way helping you answer your question, of course. I'm merely
stating that more as a bit of venting. ;o)
There is a lot of data we could make more accessible if we could just get
people to think about developing CONTENT first and foremost, rather than the
more common approach of making a paper document and then figuring out how to
get it online.
-Darrel
From: Jim Allan
Date: Mon, Jan 31 2005 12:08PM
Subject: Re: FlashPaper
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Flash & and by extension Flash paper is accessible if the following are
true:
# User must use Flash Player 6+ - (will also make some content created with
Flash 4 & 5 more accessible) http://www.macromedia.com/go/getflashplayer/
# User must use Windows, IE 5.5+, MSAA (MicroSoft Active Accessibility must
be installed)
# User must use screen reader that uses MSAA. Currently, WindowEyes 4.2+ -
http://www.gwmicro.com/ , Jaws 4.5+ - http://www.hj.com
# Author must create media with FlashMX+ or related tool
# Author must add alternative content and functionality (keyboard access,
text alternatives, etc.)
if any of the above conditions are not true then accessibility is
compromised.
Jim Allan, Webmaster & Statewide Technical Support Specialist
Texas School for the Blind and Visually Impaired
1100 W. 45th St., Austin, Texas 78756
voice 512.206.9315 fax: 512.206.9264 http://www.tsbvi.edu/
"I see the Earth. It is so beautiful."--first words spoken by human in
space.
[Yuri Alekseevich Gagarin, from the Vostok 1, April 12, 1961.]
From: Austin, Darrel
Date: Mon, Jan 31 2005 4:22PM
Subject: Re: FlashPaper
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> # Author must create media with FlashMX+ or related tool
I, admittedly, haven't played much with FlashPaper.
Just to clarify your above statement, are you saying that the content
actually had to be developed within FlashMX? (As opposed to converting some
other file format to FlashPaper?)
I'm under the assumption that FlashPaper is akin to PDF, where you can
convert documents to the format, but I may be way off on that.
It does sound like FlashPaper is actually less accessible that PDF at this
point in time.
-Darrel
From: Andrew Kirkpatrick
Date: Mon, Jan 31 2005 6:39PM
Subject: Re: FlashPaper
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> Just to clarify your above statement, are you saying that the
> content actually had to be developed within FlashMX? (As
> opposed to converting some other file format to FlashPaper?)
Flashpaper is an application and a document. The application can be used to
create flashpaper documents or pdf documents. The flashpaper document is a
flash file, but it is not authored in the Flash authoring tool.
More about Flashpaper: http://www.macromedia.com/software/flashpaper/
The accessibility of Flashpaper documents depends on the file you use to
create the FlashPaper. Starting with a word document for example, an image
in the document with an equivalent defined in word will have an equivalent
in FlashPaper.
There is accessibility information and scripts available for FlashPaper to
improve the performance with JAWS:
http://www.macromedia.com/cfusion/knowledgebase/index.cfm?id=tn_19531
AWK