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Thread: What makes appropriate equivalents to Flash?

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Number of posts in this thread: 7 (In chronological order)

From: Mike Foskett
Date: Wed, May 18 2005 6:03AM
Subject: What makes appropriate equivalents to Flash?
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Hi all,

This is my first post onto the forum, thanks for being here.
I hope the topic has not been repeated recently.

I have a question concerning a website containing Flash.
The site is aimed at schools specifically and supplies interactive language games aimed at reinforcing materials learnt separately in class.
To quote the homepage: "This site is particularly designed to help students to memorize vocabulary learnt in class and practise their grammar skills."

http://www.languageplus.com.au
>From the homepage select "DEMO" then "ANIMALS" to see a typical set of Flash pieces.

My question?
What would the forum members consider to be appropriate equivalents to these materials?



Any help on this is greatly appreciated.


Mike 2k:)2






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From: Austin, Darrel
Date: Wed, May 18 2005 8:17AM
Subject: RE: What makes appropriate equivalents to Flash?
← Previous message | Next message →

> My question?
> What would the forum members consider to be appropriate
> equivalents to these materials?

Well, they are interactive games. I'm not sure if there really would be an
accessible equivalent. Perhaps making the content of the games as some sort
of text-based study guide, or maybe convert some of the games into
forms-based interaction, but you pretty much loose the interactive/game
portion when doing that.

I suppose one thing that could be done is to add proper audio to everything.
Some of the games I tried didn't seem to have any audio. That would at least
help with some sight impairement issues.

-Darrel


From: Stuart Smith
Date: Wed, May 18 2005 3:14PM
Subject: RE: What makes appropriate equivalents to Flash?
← Previous message | Next message →

Hi Mike

This is my first post but I hope it proves of some use.

Flash can be used accessibility. Here in the UK a not insignificant amount
of public money has been spent on developing learning materials, which all
have to be considered "accessible" and many are which Flash based. Have a
look at

http://www.nln.ac.uk/materials/default.asp
and

http://www.nln.ac.uk/materials/developers/technical_accessibility_requirements.asp?menuitem=technical&;pid
provides some specific guidance.
I would suggest that any learning material needs to consider its audience
carefully. Standrads cannot answere every question. Usability needs to be a
wider consideration.
Cheers
Stu

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: "Mike Foskett" < = EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED = >
To: < = EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED = >
Date: Wed, 18 May 2005 13:02:28 +0100
Subject: [WebAIM] What makes appropriate equivalents to Flash?

Hi all,

This is my first post onto the forum, thanks for being here.
I hope the topic has not been repeated recently.

I have a question concerning a website containing Flash.
The site is aimed at schools specifically and supplies interactive language
games aimed at reinforcing materials learnt separately in class.
To quote the homepage: "This site is particularly designed to help students
to memorize vocabulary learnt in class and practise their grammar skills."

http://www.languageplus.com.au
>From the homepage select "DEMO" then "ANIMALS" to see a typical set of
Flash pieces.

My question?
What would the forum members consider to be appropriate equivalents to these
materials?

Any help on this is greatly appreciated.

Mike 2k:)2

From: Mike Foskett
Date: Thu, May 19 2005 2:43AM
Subject: RE: What makes appropriate equivalents to Flash?
← Previous message | Next message →

Thanks Darrel,

The function of the Flash pieces is to provide an aide to memory.
Therefore the equivalent should do the same.
I'll ask for a HTML quiz to be added to each section as an accessible alternative.
Possibly a text summary too.


Hi Stuart,
Welcome to the list.
I work for the company that developed NLN, they're in a nearby office.


Thanks for the feedback.


Mike 2k:)2


____________________________________________________________________________________
Mike Foskett
Web Standards, Accessibility & Testing Consultant
Multimedia Publishing and Production
British Educational Communications and Technology Agency (Becta)
Milburn Hill Road, Science Park, Coventry CV4 7JJ
Email: = EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED =
Tel: 02476 416994 Ext 3342 [Tuesday - Thursday]
Fax: 02476 411410
www.becta.org.uk
____________________________________________________________________________________



-----Original Message-----
From: Austin, Darrel [mailto: = EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED = ]
Sent: 18 May 2005 15:17
To: 'WebAIM Discussion List'
Subject: RE: [WebAIM] What makes appropriate equivalents to Flash?

> My question?
> What would the forum members consider to be appropriate equivalents to
> these materials?

Well, they are interactive games. I'm not sure if there really would be an accessible equivalent. Perhaps making the content of the games as some sort of text-based study guide, or maybe convert some of the games into forms-based interaction, but you pretty much loose the interactive/game portion when doing that.

I suppose one thing that could be done is to add proper audio to everything.
Some of the games I tried didn't seem to have any audio. That would at least help with some sight impairement issues.

-Darrel
_______________________________________________
To manage your subscription, visit http://list.webaim.org/ Address list messages to = EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED =





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From: Mike Foskett
Date: Thu, May 19 2005 7:23AM
Subject: RE: What makes appropriate equivalents to Flash?
← Previous message | Next message →


I've put a small demo html /php quiz online as an example for the site owner.
If anyone has a little time could they check its accessibility please?

Mike 2k:)2

____________________________________________________________________________________
Mike Foskett
Web Standards, Accessibility & Testing Consultant
Multimedia Publishing and Production
British Educational Communications and Technology Agency (Becta)
Milburn Hill Road, Science Park, Coventry CV4 7JJ
Email: = EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED =
Tel: 02476 416994 Ext 3342 [Tuesday - Thursday]
Fax: 02476 411410
www.becta.org.uk
____________________________________________________________________________________



-----Original Message-----
From: Mike Foskett
Sent: 19 May 2005 09:42
To: WebAIM Discussion List
Subject: RE: [WebAIM] What makes appropriate equivalents to Flash?

Thanks Darrel,

The function of the Flash pieces is to provide an aide to memory.
Therefore the equivalent should do the same.
I'll ask for a HTML quiz to be added to each section as an accessible alternative.
Possibly a text summary too.


Hi Stuart,
Welcome to the list.
I work for the company that developed NLN, they're in a nearby office.


Thanks for the feedback.


Mike 2k:)2


____________________________________________________________________________________
Mike Foskett
Web Standards, Accessibility & Testing Consultant Multimedia Publishing and Production British Educational Communications and Technology Agency (Becta) Milburn Hill Road, Science Park, Coventry CV4 7JJ
Email: = EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED =
Tel: 02476 416994 Ext 3342 [Tuesday - Thursday]
Fax: 02476 411410
www.becta.org.uk
____________________________________________________________________________________



-----Original Message-----
From: Austin, Darrel [mailto: = EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED = ]
Sent: 18 May 2005 15:17
To: 'WebAIM Discussion List'
Subject: RE: [WebAIM] What makes appropriate equivalents to Flash?

> My question?
> What would the forum members consider to be appropriate equivalents to
> these materials?

Well, they are interactive games. I'm not sure if there really would be an accessible equivalent. Perhaps making the content of the games as some sort of text-based study guide, or maybe convert some of the games into forms-based interaction, but you pretty much loose the interactive/game portion when doing that.

I suppose one thing that could be done is to add proper audio to everything.
Some of the games I tried didn't seem to have any audio. That would at least help with some sight impairement issues.

-Darrel
_______________________________________________
To manage your subscription, visit http://list.webaim.org/ Address list messages to = EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED =





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This footnote also confirms that this email message has been swept by MIMEsweeper for the presence of computer viruses.
www.mimesweeper.com
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_______________________________________________
To manage your subscription, visit http://list.webaim.org/ Address list messages to = EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED =





**********************************************************************
This email and any files transmitted with it are confidential and
intended solely for the use of the individual or entity to whom they
are addressed. If you have received this email in error please notify
the system manager.
This footnote also confirms that this email message has been swept by
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From: Mike Foskett
Date: Thu, May 19 2005 7:38AM
Subject: RE: What makes appropriate equivalents to Flash?
← Previous message | Next message →

Whoops, the url might be useful:

http://www.websemantics.co.uk/temp/animal_quiz.html

I've put a small demo html /php quiz online as an example for the site owner.
If anyone has a little time could they check its accessibility please?

Mike 2k:)2

____________________________________________________________________________________
Mike Foskett
Web Standards, Accessibility & Testing Consultant Multimedia Publishing and Production British Educational Communications and Technology Agency (Becta) Milburn Hill Road, Science Park, Coventry CV4 7JJ
Email: = EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED =
Tel: 02476 416994 Ext 3342 [Tuesday - Thursday]
Fax: 02476 411410
www.becta.org.uk
____________________________________________________________________________________



-----Original Message-----
From: Mike Foskett
Sent: 19 May 2005 09:42
To: WebAIM Discussion List
Subject: RE: [WebAIM] What makes appropriate equivalents to Flash?

Thanks Darrel,

The function of the Flash pieces is to provide an aide to memory.
Therefore the equivalent should do the same.
I'll ask for a HTML quiz to be added to each section as an accessible alternative.
Possibly a text summary too.


Hi Stuart,
Welcome to the list.
I work for the company that developed NLN, they're in a nearby office.


Thanks for the feedback.


Mike 2k:)2


____________________________________________________________________________________
Mike Foskett
Web Standards, Accessibility & Testing Consultant Multimedia Publishing and Production British Educational Communications and Technology Agency (Becta) Milburn Hill Road, Science Park, Coventry CV4 7JJ
Email: = EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED =
Tel: 02476 416994 Ext 3342 [Tuesday - Thursday]
Fax: 02476 411410
www.becta.org.uk
____________________________________________________________________________________



-----Original Message-----
From: Austin, Darrel [mailto: = EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED = ]
Sent: 18 May 2005 15:17
To: 'WebAIM Discussion List'
Subject: RE: [WebAIM] What makes appropriate equivalents to Flash?

> My question?
> What would the forum members consider to be appropriate equivalents to
> these materials?

Well, they are interactive games. I'm not sure if there really would be an accessible equivalent. Perhaps making the content of the games as some sort of text-based study guide, or maybe convert some of the games into forms-based interaction, but you pretty much loose the interactive/game portion when doing that.

I suppose one thing that could be done is to add proper audio to everything.
Some of the games I tried didn't seem to have any audio. That would at least help with some sight impairement issues.

-Darrel
_______________________________________________
To manage your subscription, visit http://list.webaim.org/ Address list messages to = EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED =





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This email and any files transmitted with it are confidential and intended solely for the use of the individual or entity to whom they are addressed. If you have received this email in error please notify the system manager.
This footnote also confirms that this email message has been swept by MIMEsweeper for the presence of computer viruses.
www.mimesweeper.com
**********************************************************************


_______________________________________________
To manage your subscription, visit http://list.webaim.org/ Address list messages to = EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED =





**********************************************************************
This email and any files transmitted with it are confidential and intended solely for the use of the individual or entity to whom they are addressed. If you have received this email in error please notify the system manager.
This footnote also confirms that this email message has been swept by MIMEsweeper for the presence of computer viruses.
www.mimesweeper.com
**********************************************************************


_______________________________________________
To manage your subscription, visit http://list.webaim.org/ Address list messages to = EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED =





**********************************************************************
This email and any files transmitted with it are confidential and
intended solely for the use of the individual or entity to whom they
are addressed. If you have received this email in error please notify
the system manager.
This footnote also confirms that this email message has been swept by
MIMEsweeper for the presence of computer viruses.
www.mimesweeper.com
**********************************************************************




From: Stuart Smith
Date: Tue, May 24 2005 10:17AM
Subject: RE: What makes appropriate equivalents to Flash?
← Previous message | No next message

Hi Mike

Thanks for the welcome, I work for the University that hosts the NLN
materials so we probably know a lot of the same people.

Without sounding too much like blowing the services own trumpet they do show
that Flash can work accessibly.

That said I think they also show the value of extensive user testing,
especially with Flash.

With regards to your latest offering, I cannot see any major problems, that
can't be overcome. I might be tempted to use access keys and anchor tags if
the list got much longer to allow the user the user to navigate more
randomly as answers came to them. At the moment the selection experience is
linear when using keys so it does not reflect the freedom that an mouse user
would have in completing the test in the order that suited them.

Cheers

Stuart
---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: "Mike Foskett" < = EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED = >
To: "WebAIM Discussion List" < = EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED = >
Date: Thu, 19 May 2005 14:37:27 +0100
Subject: RE: [WebAIM] What makes appropriate equivalents to Flash?
Whoops, the url might be useful:

http://www.websemantics.co.uk/temp/animal_quiz.html

I've put a small demo html /php quiz online as an example for the site
owner.
If anyone has a little time could they check its accessibility please?

Mike 2k:)2