[Web4lib] Web technologies and public access

[Chris Alhambra]

On Feb 1, 2008 12:48 AM, Cary Gordon <listuser at chillco.com> wrote:

> 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
>
>

I was responding to the original post about the use of Flash and not
providing HTML-only equivalents.  In that case, the Flash-only pages are
indeed obstacles to accessibility.

But, OK, hooray for Adobe's spending millions to make its expensive
technology accessible.  [I'm not even going to comment on the industry that
has grown around Section 508.]

I don't doubt that Flash can be made accessible, but making it accessible
requires a good Flash designer who cares about accessibility.  Often times,
I don't see this happening.

So, main obstacle:  Making Flash accessible is not easy.  Sometimes, having
to provide alternative html pages is "double work" for the same content.
Can many cash-strapped (and "time-constrained") libraries really afford to
think that's a trivial matter?

As to the issues (or "obstacles") faced by designers in making Flash
accessible, here are some excerpts from Adobe's "White Paper on Best
Practices for Accessible Flash Design": [
http://www.adobe.com/resources/accessibility/best_practices/bp_fp.html ]

Page 12:
    "Screen readers are not able to provide clues to a
     screen reader user about the layout or structure of
     a Flash movie, or individual controls within that
     movie. As a result, it is important that complex
     movies provide descriptions about the movie itself,
     as well as its important parts and controls.
     Determining when a movie is sufficiently complex to
     merit a description or when a control requires
     additional cues is really up to each designer."

Page 13:
     "Designers should provide a description of the movie
     at the root level to let the user know what the movie
     or application is about. This description should be
     written to help the user get oriented to the
     application quickly and understand the key controls
     and shortcuts used.

Page 14:
     "The default reading order of a Flash movie does
     not follow a predictable left to right, top to
     bottom order. As a result, contents of a Flash
     movie can be difficult to understand."

------

These are just but a few of the issues that good designers face when they
use Flash on a web page.

I did not say that one should totally avoid using Flash on websites.  I am
merely advocating its appropriate use, and that, almost always, means
providing html-only alternatives (or some rendered "text-only" equivalent)
to pure Flash pages.

Bottom line:  If you want to use Flash technology, find an experienced
designer who fully understands the implication of Flash to accessibility
issues.

-Chris