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Thread: FlashPaper2
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From: Sharon Trerise
Date: Tue, Aug 17 2004 6:50AM
Subject: FlashPaper2
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FlashPaper2
If you read the promo information on the macromedia site, creating online
documents using FlashPaper2 sounds pretty good.
http://www.macromedia.com/newsletters/edge/august2004/index.html?sectionIndex=1&;amp;trackingid=DMJA_ACDV
http://www.macromedia.com/software/flashpaper/
Macromedia is now offering FlashPaper2 as a stand-alone product. Does
anyone have experience with the accessibility of the Flash documents it
creates? They claim:
"Flash documents created with FlashPaper are Section 508compliant and
cross-browser, cross-platform, and cross-device compatible. FlashPaper
documents offer comprehensive navigation and content access with live
hyperlinks, bookmarks, and text search and selection."
Sharon Trerise
Coordinator of Accessible IT
Northeast ADA & IT Center
203 ILR Extension Bldg.
Cornell University
Ithaca, NY 14853
1-800-949-4232
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From: Hall, Kevin (K.M.)
Date: Tue, Aug 17 2004 7:15AM
Subject: Re: FlashPaper2
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FlashPaper is really just another .swf file. As such it has the same basic accessibility features as other Flash content.
With FlashPaper2 it looks as though there is an API that allows us to pull the .swf into another Flash movie to control the FlashPaper content. I think this means that you could take the default settings and add more accessibility options for a particular audience. I haven't had time to fully explore it yet.
By default the text should all be readable by new screen readers such as JAWS and Window-Eyes on the Windows platform as long as the Flash Player is v6+. The next release of OS X is supposed to have better support for visual disabilities as well. The built in zooming supports users with poor eyesight or monitors. Any images that are included will probably not have descriptions so those should be added using the new API (it's just a bit of ActionScript to add useful descriptions of images and graphs and such.
For mobility problems FlashPaper is keyboard accessible so users can tab through controls and scroll through documents using the arrow keys.
So overall, I'd say that it looks promising, particularly if you take advantage of the new API to add more support for accessibility.
-Kevin Hall