Flash 8 Documentation

Using Flash > Creating Accessible Content

Creating Accessible Content

You can create Flash content that is accessible to all users, including those with disabilities, using the accessibility features provided with Macromedia Flash 8 and Macromedia Flash Professional 8. As you design accessible Flash applications, consider how users might interact with the content. For example, visually impaired users might rely on assistive technology, such as screen readers that provide an audio version of screen content, and hearing-impaired users might read text and captions in the document. Other considerations arise for users with mobility or cognitive impairments.

You can create accessible content with Flash by using accessibility features included in the authoring environment user interface, taking advantage of ActionScript designed to implement accessibility, and following recommended design and development practices. The list of recommended practices that follows is not exhaustive, but rather suggests common issues to consider. Depending on your audience's needs, additional requirements might arise.

Visually impaired users For visually impaired users, including those with color blindness, remember the following design recommendations:

• Use the Accessibility panel or ActionScript to provide a description of your document and nontext elements for use with a screen reader. See Using Flash to enter accessibility information for screen readers and Creating accessibility with ActionScript.
• Describe the layout of your Flash application and the individual controls used to navigate through it. See Using Flash to enter accessibility information for screen readers.
• Design and implement a logical tab order using either the Accessibility panel or ActionScript. See Creating a tab order index for keyboard navigation in the Accessibility panel (Flash Professional only) and Using ActionScript to create a tab order for accessible objects.
• Design the document so that constant changes in the Flash content do not cause screen readers to refresh unnecessarily. For example, you should group or hide looping elements. See Hiding an object from the screen reader.
• Provide captions for narrative audio. Be aware of audio in your document that might interfere with a user being able to listen to the screen reader. See Testing accessible content.
• Ensure that color is not the only means of conveying information. In addition, make sure that the foreground and background contrast sufficiently to make text readable for people with low vision and color blindness.

Users with visual or mobility impairment For users with either visual or mobility impairment, ensure that controls are device independent (or accessible by keyboard).

Hearing-impaired users For hearing-impaired users, you can caption audio content. See Accessibility for hearing-impaired users.

Users with cognitive impairment Users with cognitive impairments often respond best to uncluttered design that is easily navigable.

This chapter contains the following sections:

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