Macromedia announcement

Macromedia Enables Creation Of Accessible Web Content
>
>Company ships Dreamweaver accessibility extensions,
outlines Macromedia
>Flash plans
>
>Macromedia Inc (NASDAQ: MACR) today outlined its
commitment to ensuring
>the immersive Web experiences created by its market-leading
products are
>accessible to everyone.  Macromedia is working to help
overcome the Web
>technology challenges for people with disabilities through
community
>involvement, software features and documentation, third party
support,
>promotion of accessibility standards and company
awareness.  Macromedia
>today delivered free downloadable extensions to its
Macromedia Dreamweaver
>platform to enable developers to more easily create
accessible content.
>Information about Macromedia's accessibility program is
available at
>http://www.macromedia.com/accessibility/
><http://www.macromedia.com/accessibility/> .
>
>"Macromedia is dedicated to providing software that enables
our customers to
>deliver the fullest potential of the Web," said Kevin Lynch,
President of
>products for Macromedia. "We will continue to innovate in
providing and
>promoting accessibility standards across our market-leading
Web authoring
>solutions to ensure the vision of what the Web can be includes
everyone."
>
>Macromedia today announced the availability of free
extensions to Macromedia
>Dreamweaver and Macromedia Fireworks that make it easier
for its customers
>to deliver accessible Web content.  The Dreamweaver
extension enables
>developers to evaluate their Web pages for accessibility
based on the
>guidelines of the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C).  The
extension performs a
>test similar to that of Bobby ( http://www.cast.org/bobby/)
><http://www.cast.org/bobby/)> , which has become a standard
online benchmark
>for accessibility.  The free extensions are immediately
available for
>download from the Macromedia Exchange for Dreamweaver
at
>http://exchange.macromedia.com
<http://exchange.macromedia.com> .
>
>Macromedia also announced plans for a Macromedia Flash
Accessibility
>Developer Kit and future enhancements to the Macromedia
Flash Player,
>expected by the end of the year.  The Macromedia Flash
Accessibility
>Developer Kit will contain guidelines, Smart Clips and sample
code to fully
>support development efforts.  An upcoming version of the
Macromedia Flash
>Player will be modified to allow access to underlying data
within a
>Macromedia Flash (SWF) file, permitting the text within to be
interpreted by
>assistive devices.  Further, developers can choose to expose
their
>Macromedia Flash content, making properties such as scale
and visibility
>controllable by end users.
>
>As part of its accessibility initiative, Macromedia today
delivered
>extensions that assist developers with accessible design. Two
new commands
>for Fireworks confirm that ALT Tags (which describe the
information
>contained in images) are being used, and that complex sliced
image maps are
>properly tagged for readers with disabilities and reading
software.
>
>About Macromedia
>Macromedia is passionate about what the Web can be.  Its
award-winning
>products empower developers to provide the most engaging
experiences on the
>Web and enable more effective e-business.  Headquartered
in San Francisco,
>Macromedia (NASDAQ: MACR) has more than 1,200
employees worldwide and is
>available on the Internet at www.macromedia.com/uk
><http://www.macromedia.com/uk> .
>
>Macromedia is a member of the Business Software Alliance
(BSA)
>
>-ENDS-
>
>
>For Further Information Please Contact:
>
>Sarah Mowatt
>Macromedia Europe
>Tel: 01344 458600
>Fax: 01344 458666
>Email: smowatt@macromedia.com
<mailto:smowatt@macromedia.com>
>
>Or
>
>Nigel Cayless/Caro Bamforth/Julie Elliott
>Stewart-Muir Communications
>Tel: 020 8943 2111
>Fax: 020 8943 2888
>Email: macromedia@stewartmuir.com
<mailto:macromedia@stewartmuir.com>
>
>
>25th October 2000

Received on Friday, 27 October 2000 06:35:24 UTC