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Re: Flash Accessibility

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From: Vivek Gaikwad
Date: Jul 5, 2009 11:25PM

Hello,



ADOBE has provided a list of accessible components with Flash. These
components works perfectly fine with JAWS.



You can get the list of accessible components in flash here:
http://livedocs.adobe.com/flash/9.0/UsingFlash/help.html?content=WSd60f23110
762d6b883b18f10cb1fe1af6-7c27.html



Flash components make the flash movie inaccessible by trapping the focus is
NOT true. If we follow best practices for accessible flash, we can certainly
make flash accessible.



We need to implement the accessibility right from the beginning of the
development. If we try to implement it once the development is done, it's
almost a 50% rework on the project as the developer has not kept
accessibility in mind while working on the project which leads to a lot of
unwanted controls/text in the movie. A normal user won't even come to know
what and how is used to make the flash movie look so good. But when it comes
to a screen reader, there is no escape; the screen reader will catch all the
unwanted things in the movie and present it to the end user.



To avoid this, the developers must be educated to use the screen reader and
other testing tools in order to do the basic testing at their end.



Making flash accessible is not a difficult thing but it requires logic and
patience.



Have look at the blog to get an idea of flash and accessibility. Myself
being a developer, you can get a developers point of view on flash and
accessibility. :)

http://barrierbreak.com/blog/?cat=15





Thanks & Regards

Vivek Gaikwad | Team Lead - Accessible e-learning

Net Systems Informatics

India: +91 (22) 2686 0485/86 | ext: 23

Web: http://www.n-syst.com



Knowledge Management | Accessibility |Our Showcase



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