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Re: Accessible Flash

for

From: Joshue O Connor
Date: Feb 13, 2006 10:00AM

> Yes, its possible to build accessible Flash and yes, the more modern versions of the industry-standard screen readers can then render it,

but those screen readers can be phenomenally expensive, and many users financial situations preclude even upgrading.

JAWS, industry-standard in screen readers, costs as much as $600 just for an upgrade and $900-1100 for a full install,

so many people will use their legacy versions until they are completely non-functional.

I also agree with Jan. Screen reader upgrades (JAWS anyway), are very expensive (I am not sure how well HomeReader et al support Flash) so don't penalize users (though I know that not your intention) by using a technology that doesn't speak with their own.

For this very reason, if I was developing a site and using Flash swf's embedded in my pages I would try to make them invisible to screen readers, and place any important info/content in the main body of the page.

Josh

Joshue O Connor

Web Accessibility Consultant

**Centre for Inclusive Technology (CFIT)* *
National Council for the Blind of Ireland

Website:http://www.cfit.ie
E-Mail: <EMAIL REMOVED> Tel: +353 1 8821915



Schuffman, Jan (General Services - ADA) wrote:
> (Long-time list serv lurker here, seldom poster) My $.02  I agree with
> Leonie. Yes, its possible to build accessible Flash and yes, the more
> modern versions of the industry-standard screen readers can then render
> it, but those screen readers can be phenomenally expensive, and many
> users financial situations preclude even upgrading. JAWS,
> industry-standard in screen readers, costs as much as $600 just for an
> upgrade and $900-1100 for a full install, so many people will use their
> legacy versions until they are completely non-functional.
>
>
>
> The time will come when most of the visitors who use screen readers will
> have software that plays nice with Flash. Till then, though, my party
> line continues to be to avoid Flash or, if it must be used, to make sure
> a visitor has a chance to opt out of it for an accessible page before
> the Flash begins.
>
>
>
> Note that this is different from having Flash auto-start if a player is
> detected on a computer. A couple who are friends of mine now have two
> computers but before they did, it was rough. He is 100% blind and uses
> JAWS. She is not, and enjoys Flash. Whenever he was online and
> encountered Flash with an auto-detect and auto-start, he was stuck,
> since she had loaded a Flash player on their shared computer. Much
> better to ask the user which he/she prefers  the Flash or non-Flash
> version of a page.
>
>
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