WebAIM - Web Accessibility In Mind

E-mail List Archives

Re: Flash Accessibility

for

From: E.J. Zufelt
Date: Jul 6, 2009 12:00AM

Good evening,

A quick point about Flash accessibility. For screen-reader users of
the Mac and Linux Flash is not accessible. I believe that this holds
true for some Windows screen-readers as well.

HTH,
Everett

Follow me on Twitter
http://twitter.com/ezufelt

View my LinkedIn Profile
http://www.linkedin.com/in/ezufelt



On 6-Jul-09, at 1:19 AM, Vivek Gaikwad wrote:

> 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
>
>