• Home
• About this Site
• Contact Us
• RSS Feeds
• eGovRC Toolbar

Help & Print

Help Print

Resize Text

Categories, RSS and More

Flash and Accessibility - Accessibility Toolkit - Version 3 - 2009

There will be people who won’t be able to access the Flash file because:

• They are hearing impaired or deaf;
• They are visually impaired or blind;
• They are using a slow modem;
• They do not have the required Flash player; and/or
• They have a physical disability which prevents them from using the Flash player.

Flash cannot be made fully accessible, but it can be made accessible to some people with disabilities; for example people using screen readers. A Flash file is made accessible by:

• Creating the Flash in a particular way;
• Inserting the Flash file in the site a particular way; and
• Providing a transcript of the Flash file in text or HTML.

Relationship to WCAG1 checkpoints

Checkpoint 1.1 requires that a text equivalent is provided for every non-text element (e.g. via "alt", "longdesc", or in element content). This includes: applets and programmatic objects, sounds (played with or without user interaction), stand-alone audio files, audio tracks of video, and video.
Checkpoint 6.2 requires that equivalents for dynamic content are updated when the dynamic content changes.

Complying with accessibility requirements when including Flash

Creating the Flash in a particular way

The Flash file needs to be created in a particular way, in order to make it accessible. Accessibility needs to be considered both when creating the Flash file and when inserting the file into the web site.

When creating the Flash file

Use FlashMX to develop the Flash file and ensure that:

• On the Flash Accessibility Panel:
  • "Make object accessible" is selected on all objects;
  • "Make child object accessible" is selected on all relevant child objects;
  • "Make child object accessible" is deselected for all child object animations;
  • "Make Movie accessible" is selected for all movies;
  • "Auto-label" is selected;
  • "Name" is completed on all objects; and
  • "Description" is completed on all objects that require additional information to that provided in the "Name" field.
• The command enableAccessibility () has been used in relevant components, such as simple button, check box, radio button etc.

When creating the Flash file ensure:

• The object or movie is structured in a logical order;
• There are no patterned backgrounds;
• There is no flashing content;
• Information is not provided via colour alone;
• All movement can be stopped;
• Only high contrast colours have been used;
• The Flash file has a logical tab order;
• A zooming mechanism has been provided to increase the size of text;
• Any time limits can be increased;
• The Flash file is limited to 2MB or less ;
• Allow users to control the Flash file (e.g. pause, rewind, etc.) via the keyboard only;
• Allow users to control the Flash file (e.g. pause, rewind, etc.) via the mouse only;
• Allow users to control the volume; and
• Captions have been provided for all audio and video content.

Inserting the Flash file in the site in a particular way

The Flash file needs to be inserted in the site in a particular way, in order to make it accessible. Accessibility needs to be considered in how the user will access the Flash file. Website Flash content should :

• Never automatically start a Flash file;
• Allow the user to skip over the Flash file using the mouse only;
• Allow the user to skip over the Flash file using keyboard only; and
• Open in a new window;

Further when inserting Flash content into your website:

• Ensure the site is functional and all content is available without the Flash file; and
• Include information on how to download the Flash player.

Providing a transcript of the Flash file in text or HTML

It is important to provide a transcript of the Flash file. Where the user cannot access the Flash file, it is vital a transcript is provided (in HTML, text or Word) so that they are not missing out on the content within the Flash file.

Example 1: Transcript of a Flash file

Languages Online (by the Department of Education and Early Childhood Development) contains a variety of language activities, including an Indonesian language activity .

In the example above, selecting one of the children will play an audio file is played pronouncing a phrase. The aim of the exercise is to test whether a student has learnt the Indonesian phrase for "Good morning" and other words, and reinforcing the pronunciation of the word.

A suitable, accessible alternative needs to be the equivalent of the activity, thus it needs to test whether the student knows the Indonesian phrase for "Good morning" and other words and provide the pronunciation. In this instance the accessible alternative might be similar to the example below:

Fill the gaps with one of the following phrases:

Selamat pagi (pronounced sell-amat pag-e with a hard g)
Selamat siang (sell-amat see-ang with a hard g)
Sampai jumpa (pronounced sump-ay joomp-a)
Selamat malam (pronounced sell-amat mull-um)
Selamat sore (pronounced sell-amat sore-ee)
It’s before 11am. Jill says ___________
It’s between 11am and 3pm. Jerry says ___________
It’s between 3pm and 6pm. Jackie says ___________
It’s after 6pm. Jack says _____________
John says ______________

Answers
It’s before 11am. Jill says selamat pagi (good morning)
It’s between 11am and 3pm. Jerry says selamat siang (good [middle of the] day)
It’s between 3pm and 6pm. Jackie says selamat sore (good [late] afternoon)
It’s after 6pm. Jack says selamat malam (good evening / night)
John says sampai jumpa (see you later)

Further Information

• W3C Checkpoint 1.1: Provide a text equivalent for every non-text element
• Accessible Flash Banner Guidelines
• WebAIM – Creating Accessible Macromedia Flash content
• Best Practices for Accessible Flash Design (This document requires the use of Adobe Acrobat Reader). .
• Create accessible Flash content
• AccRepair for Flash

Source: Accessibility Toolkit Version 3, September 2009. Section 5 - Flash and Accessibility.

Last updated: 24 October 2010

Search, Login and Options