[WEB4LIB] Links about Flash

[Allan Barclay]

>Can anyone help? I could use a few links that explain why usage of
>Macromedia's Flash is bad for usability, accessibility, content management,
>the web as a whole, and so on. I have a new employee who needs to be
>instructed in these matters. I already have Jakob Nielsen's column on the
>subject, as well as several well-written posts in the Web4Lib archives.
>
>Any others that people can recommend?

Charles -

Here's a pretty good page that tells both what you can do to help make 
Flash more accessible as well as why there's not really any way (currently) 
to make the Flash content itself accessible. In short I think the best you 
can do for now is have an alternative equivalent and make sure that you put 
that information "under" the Flash so people can find it (kinda like 
<NOFRAMES> for people who can't handle framed content) or generate the 
Flash content from a database that can also present it in non-Flash format. 
Lots of links to Macromedia and other sites:

         http://www.webaim.org/Articles/accessibleflash

If you really want to scare them send them to the tutorials for Section 508 
or the W3C's Accessibility Curriculum - they're not Flash specific but the 
ideas for other multimedia content apply to Flash:

         http://www.jimthatcher.com/webcourse1.htm (section 508)
         http://www.w3.org/WAI/wcag-curric/overgid.htm (W3C)

For the tongue in cheek approach, at least for splash screens, check this out:

         http://www.skipintro.nl/skipintro/index.html

Take care,

Allan


Allan R Barclay
Information Architect, Health Sciences Libraries
University of Wisconsin-Madison
Phone: (608) 262-3957  Fax: (608) 262-4732
Email: abarclay at library.wisc.edu


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