- From: David Poehlman <poehlman1@comcast.net>
- Date: Thu, 07 Mar 2002 14:00:09 -0500
- To: Aaron Smith <aaron@gwmicro.com>, w3c-wai-ig@w3.org
as far as I know, if it is not useable, it is not accessible. we are after alll talking about leveling the playing field and comparable access? I'm not dinging mm, I just want this to be understood. I await the day when we have parity with all formats and such. ----- Original Message ----- From: "Aaron Smith" <aaron@gwmicro.com> To: <w3c-wai-ig@w3.org> Sent: Thursday, March 07, 2002 11:58 AM Subject: Fwd: Flash To beat this horse some more... >X-Sender: geoffray@mail.gwmicro.com >X-Mailer: QUALCOMM Windows Eudora Pro Version 3.0.5 (32) >Date: Wed, 06 Mar 2002 22:04:31 -0500 >To: gw-info@gwmicro.com >From: Doug Geoffray <geoffray@gwmicro.com> >Subject: Flash > > >In an earlier message Steve Jacobson was asking some questions about older >flash presentations and wanted GW Micro to comment. Deneb Meketa, an >Accessibility engineer, with Macromedia is much more qualified so he >responded. I wanted to make this public for all to read. The following is >Deneb's response: > >The Flash Player 6 will expose as much information as it can find in any >Flash movie, including older content. For the most part, this means text >and text buttons should come through correctly. The overall results will >be rough in some cases. > >Starting with version 6 of the Flash MX authoring tool, creators of Flash >can add text equivalents to entire Flash movies, and to the individual >objects in their movies. Authors can also control which objects are >eligible for voicing, which can help silence distracting visual elements. >Some advanced techniques are also available, meaning that authors who are >dedicated to creating accessible content should be able to produce some >excellent results for screen reader users. > >Beginning with version 6, Macromedia is also promoting accessibility >requirements for Flash content in a high-profile way. This should help us >close the most important gap in Flash accessibility, which is one of design >rather than technology. > >In many ways, older Flash content will behave similarly to HTML pages that >were written without attention to accessibility. The basic text will come >through, and all interactive elements will be reachable, but graphics and >advanced scripting may not be intelligible, and the overall design may not >make much sense. > >It is important to distinguish among the many roles in which Flash content >appears. First, Flash can be used as a kind of superset of HTML, >displaying text, hyperlinks, and interactive elements. When Flash is used >in this role, it is usually because designers want to create a Web page >that is more visually flexible than HTML. This is a situation that should >work reasonably well for screen reader users. On the other hand, Flash can >also be used as a high-perfomance animation tool. Flash movies of this >kind are sometimes called "eye candy." They are highly visual and >sometimes contain no text. Often they have audio tracks as well, but often >the audio is created in an ancillary way rather than making sense on its >own. Our hope is that authors of "eye candy" Flash movies will get into >the habit of simply providing an overall text equivalent for the entire >movie. But "eye candy" movies created prior to Flash 6 will not provide >much useful information to screen readers. > >In the end, Steve makes a good point: there is a difference between content >that is accessible and content that is usable. We believe that the Flash >Player 6 gets Flash content from zero to accessible. We now face the more >substantial task of going from accessible to usable. That will require >further advances in the Flash Player, but it will also require attention >from Flash authors. In recognition of this fact, Macromedia is turning a >lot of attention to the research and promotion of usable accessible content. > >Yours, >Deneb Meketa, >Accessibility engineer, Macromedia Flash Player. > > >Doug Geoffray >GW Micro, Inc. >Voice 260-489-3671 >Fax 260-489-2608 >http://www.gwmicro.com > > > >If you reply to this message it will be delivered to the original >sender only. If your reply would benefit others on the list and >your message is related to GW Micro, then please consider sending >your message to the entire list by addressing your message to >gw-info@gwmicro.com. -- Aaron Smith GW Micro Phone: 260/489-3671 Fax: 260/489-2608 WWW: http://www.gwmicro.com FTP: ftp://ftp.gwmicro.com Technical Support & Web Development
Received on Thursday, 7 March 2002 14:00:39 UTC