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Re: Flash Accessibility

for

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



Please don't print this email unless you really need to. This will preserve
trees on our planet.



-----Original Message-----
From: Rothschild, Joseph T. (CDC/CCHIS/NCHM) (CTR) [mailto: <EMAIL REMOVED> ]
Sent: Monday, July 06, 2009 6:18 AM
To: WebAIM Discussion List
Subject: Re: [WebAIM] Flash Accessibility



Flash can be made quite accessible, however most developers don't have

the tools to properly test them.



What we've discovered is that many of the flash components that come

shipped with Flash make the flash movie inaccessible by causing flash to

trap focus. The obvious solution of using the Accessibility pane

properties in addition to basic AS accessibility coding solves many of

the issues, but it often comes down to frequent testing using a variety

of screen readers and browsers.



So in short, it's your developers.



Joe



::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

:::::::::::::::::::::::

.:: Joseph Rothschild ::.

.:: Pixels Misshapen, Not Stirred ::.

.:: 508 Accessibility Specialist / New Media Developer ::.

.:: Contractor with Northrop Grumman ::.

.:: CDC National Center for Health Marketing ::.

.:: Division of eHealth Marketing - New Media Group ::.

.:: Office. 404.498.1140 ::.

.:: Mobile. 858.204.8105 ::.

.:: SL. Fender Soderstrom ::.









-----Original Message-----

From: <EMAIL REMOVED>

[mailto: <EMAIL REMOVED> ] On Behalf Of David

Ashleydale

Sent: Friday, July 03, 2009 6:56 PM

To: <EMAIL REMOVED>

Subject: [WebAIM] Flash Accessibility



Hi,



I'm not a Flash developer so I wanted to ask for an opinion of those of

you that are. I often receive Flash tools and movies from vendors that

don't meet these two basic accessibility requirements: usable without a

mouse, and readable by JAWS. Using the Tab key, the focus just jumps

right over the Flash -- I can't Tab to any of the active elements within

the Flash. And when I listen to them with JAWS, none of the text that I

see within the Flash is read out loud. I usually hear something like,

"Flash movie begin.

Flash movie end."



I have seen Flash components made that satisfy both of these

requirements.

So my question is -- do Flash developers need to do something "extra" to

Flash components to get them to meet these requirements, or are the

vendors I'm dealing with just not coding their Flash correctly?



With HTML, I'm confident in pointing out mistakes that developers make.

Even if the HTML developer doesn't know that my company cares about

accessibility, coding a data table using TDs instead of THs for the

column headers is simply wrong. Sure, they can make the TD column

headers look bold and centered using styles, but it's technically

incorrect. And this is a case that if they did it correctly, even not

knowing anything about accessiblity, it would end up being more

accessible. Also, I wouldn't consider it to be asking for something

"extra" to request that the developer redo it with THs.



Basically, I want to know if the Flash developers I'm working with are

sweeping dirt under the rugs and calling the house clean, or am I

expecting them to do the windows?



Thanks,

David Ashleydale