Re: [WSG] flash and accessabilty

[scott parsons]

Patrick Lauke wrote:
In and of itself, flash will never be accessible to everybody, as it
requires a plugin; it's not a web native technology. 

A plugin huh?, I've always wondered what the difference was between 
having to have the flash plugin and having to have a web browser? it is 
very hard to see any html css website without the correct plugin (that 
is a browser), so why does it suddenly become so much worse when flash 
is required? Sorry but I have just never understood this argument, would 
you mind explaining?

Older screenreaders
can't access its content at all. So, it's important to provide accessible
fallback mechanisms. 

Yeah but my fallback positions for older browsers, like say netscape 2 
are pretty hazy, theoretically they could understand the plain html, 
ignoring more modern tags but I haven't really tested it recently.

However, for the percentage of users that *can* use
flash (have the plugin, have assistive technology that works correctly
with it, etc), you should then ensure that the flash itself follows
sensible, accessibility-related norms and conventions.
I'd suggest having a look at Bob Regan's recent post on Flash Accessibility
http://www.markme.com/accessibility/archives/007003.cfm
and the interesting WCAG 1.0 Techniques for Flash
http://www.markme.com/accessibility/archives/007344.cfm
(just to clarify: WCAG itself does not necessarily cover Flash, as it's not
an official W3C technology...so this document makes recommendations that
are similar / in sympathy with what WCAG tries to achieve, but in a Flash
context).
 

These links are really useful as I work in advertising and it is a 
constant battle to get any kind of adherence to accessibility 
requirements. But also because there are many flash designers out there 
who would like to learn but haven't found good resources.
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