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Re: Flash Accessibility

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From: Jon Gunderson
Date: Jul 6, 2009 8:50AM

There are some Flash technologies, like AIR. that are currently inaccessible on all platforms.

It takes a lot of developer skill and knowledge to improve the accessibility of Flash applications. Most Flash developers do not have this knowledge or skill or the interest and/or time to learn about accessibility.

If we are going to rely on knowledge and skill for accessibility in Flash applications, Flash will not be very accessible in practice.

We need to work with companies creating Flash authoring tools and development environments to make sure people creating Flash objects and applicatons build-in the accessibility by default, so it is easier to create accessible, rather than inaccessible Flash objects and applications.

Jon


---- Original message ----
>Date: Mon, 6 Jul 2009 01:56:11 -0400
>From: "E.J. Zufelt" < <EMAIL REMOVED> >
>Subject: Re: [WebAIM] Flash Accessibility
>To: WebAIM Discussion List < <EMAIL REMOVED> >
>
>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
>>
>>