[Web4lib] Web technologies and public access

[Cary Gordon]

I disagree. Adobe has put millions of dollars with good effect into  
making Acrobat and Flash accessible, and you can certainly build a  
Flash site that is compliant with any WCAG priority level. I don't  
particularly promote Flash for Web content or navigation, but to say  
or imply that it hinders accessibility is wrong.

Cary Gordon, MLS
The Cherry Hill Company
http://www.chillco.com


On Jan 31, 2008, at 10:04 AM, Chris Alhambra wrote:

> David,
>
> I don't know about Canada, but in the the US, there is the Section  
> 508 of
> the Disability Act that requires government websites to be  
> accessible to
> people with disabilities.  Flash-based navigation and Flash-based  
> web pages
> often (but not always) become big obstacles to accessibility.
>
> While I will not go so far as to say that websites should not use  
> Adobe's
> Flash technology (which, when done right, can do some amazing  
> stuff), I
> think most text-based content can be rendered without resorting to  
> Flash.
> Using web standard HMTL with CSS can go a long way to complying with  
> Section
> 508 in the US.
>
> Also, while Flash has become widespread, pages requiring users to do  
> some
> updating of software before they can view the page is a hindrance.   
> Some of
> your potential viewers may just go away instead of staying around  
> while
> Flash gets installed or updated (which seems to have happened at  
> least twice
> in the last six months).  If you don't care about that, that's  
> fine.  If
> some people complain, you'll need to explain your organization's
> policy regarding accessibility to the content of your website.  For  
> example,
> is the use of Flash technology on your site necessitated by the  
> specialized
> content?
>
> -------------------------------
> Christopher Alhambra
>