Creating Accessible Content with Flash MX
Duration 2 days
Objectives
Ensuring that web content is accessible to users with disabilities is becoming an increasingly important area for a variety of organisations including public, education and commercial sectors.
Achieving accessibility within Flash content poses different challenges to building accessible HTML content, but also brings new opportunities. Flash MX and the Flash 6 plug-in now have a number of new accessibility features specifically designed to help create content that is intuitive and easy to use for all visitors.
During this course you will learn about accessibility issues relating to web content in general and Flash MX in particular. You will learn about the built-in accessibility features of Flash MX, including accessible controls, forms, tab ordering, sound synchronisation and content magnification. You will learn how to provide text equivalents for graphic elements in Flash, provide names for graphic icons and how to add text equivalents for animations.
At the end of the course you will build and test a hybrid HTML and Flash MX website capable of being read by a screen-reader and with a range of other accessibility features built-in. You will then go on to test your site and modify it accordingly ready for publication. Requirements
Good introductory-level knowledge of Flash MX, including drawing, navigation, animation, basic interactivity and simple ActionScripting ability. Knowledge and familiarity with creating accessible web pages using HTML an advantage but not essential.
Course Outline
Overview of Web Site Accessiblity
• Accessibility and the Law
• Accessibility key concepts
• Web Content Accessibility Guidleines 1.0
• Understanding media access terminology
• About Bobby site testing and approval
Designing Flash content with Accessibility in mind
• Flash MX vs HTML
• Linear vs non-linear content
• When to use Flash MX and when to use HTML
• Building Hybrid Flash and HTML Sites
• Building Separate sites
Overview of Accessiblity Features within Flash MX
• Content Magnification
• Mouse-free navigation
• Sound synchronisation
• Support for custom color palettes
• Tab-ordering
What is Accessible in Flash and what is not
• Buttons
• Invisible Buttons
• Combo Boxes
• List Boxes
• Scroll Bars
• Movie Clips
Flash MX and Screen Readers
• Flash MX with Microsoft Active Accessibility
• Flash MX and JAWS
• Flash MX and Window Eyes 4.2
• Browser Constraints
• Naming elements or groups of elements
• Reading line-by-line
• Tabbing through elements
• Avoiding reader chatter
Using Images in Flash MX
• Using Movie Clips instead of Graphic Symbols
• Using the Flash MX Accessibility Panel
• Making the movie clip accessible
• Assigning an Alternative Text name
Considerations for Flash Animation
• Navigating Flash animations
• Avoiding unecessary animation eg on Buttons
Captions, Subtitles, Audio Description and Dubbing
• When to use Captions vs Subtitles
• Hiding captions and subtitles from screen readers
• About Dubbing and Audio Description
• When to use Dubbing vs Audio Description
• Turning off Audio
Detecting the Flash Plug-in in an Accessible way
• About Plug-in detection and linking
• Using Javascript to detect the plug-in
• Non-Javascript plug-in detection
• Image Links and Alt text
Testing Flash MX for Accessibility
• Testing with a Screen Reader
• The Bobby testing checklist
• About testing with Users
• Making changes to your Flash site after testing
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