Adobe Flash CS3 accessibility FAQ

Can I make my Adobe Flash content accessible?
What has been done to make Flash more accessible?
What features in Flash CS3 can I use to create accessible web content today?
Will Flash Player 9 work with all screen readers and other assistive technologies?
Is the Flash CS3 authoring tool Section 508 compliant?
Is there a tool that validates Flash CS3 content automatically?
Can everything I do with Flash CS3 be made accessible by following design techniques?

Can I make my Adobe Flash content accessible?

Yes. Adobe® Flash® content can be made accessible, if the correct best practices are used.

Adobe Flash CS3 Professional software allows designers and developers to meet all of the design requirements set forth in Section 508. For example, features that are built into the product today — such as support for Microsoft Active Accessibility (MSAA), content magnification, mouse-free navigation, sound synchronization, and custom color palettes — can help designers and developers deliver accessible web content through rich media. Individuals who use assistive technologies such as screen readers will now be able to access Flash content with support for MSAA built into Adobe Flash Player 9.

It is our ongoing goal to continue to make Flash technology even more accessible for all individuals with disabilities.

What has been done to make Flash more accessible?

Support for MSAA allows users of assistive technologies such as screen readers to access the contents of a Flash movie. This means that for the first time, text elements, buttons, input text fields, movie clips, and even entire movies can be made accessible to screen reader users. In addition, Flash CS3 Professional has an Accessibility panel that allows designers and developers to provide a text equivalent for a single element or a group of elements within Flash content. The use of text equivalents for Flash content allows designers and developers to optimize the accessibility of their content for screen reader users.

The Adobe Flash CS3 accessibility resource center offers resources for designers and developers on how to use Flash to create accessible content and provides tips and design techniques for making Flash content more accessible.

Adobe is working to find additional tools and techniques to support the creation of accessible content using Flash CS3 Professional. These resources will be made available using the Adobe Flash CS3 accessibility resource center.

What features in Flash CS3 Professional can I use to create accessible web content today?

Flash CS3 has many features to help you design for accessibility, including the following:

MSAA support allows users of assistive technologies to access the contents of a Flash movie.
Scalable graphics and magnification allow users to zoom in on Flash content without losing quality, making it easier for the visually impaired to see small text or graphics.
Content controls allow users to control playback of content, including stopping, forwarding, rewinding, and pausing.
Customized color swatches allow designers and developers to customize their color palettes so they can design with color blindness in mind.
Mouse-free navigation allows site visitors to use keyboard controls to navigate Flash content.
Synchronized audio tracks provide synchronized narrative audio for users who are unable to read graphics.

Adobe Flash CS3 accessibility resource center

Will Flash Player 9 work with all screen readers and other assistive technologies?

MSAA makes it easier for all assistive technologies to incorporate support for Flash Player. Once the contents of a Flash movie are placed under MSAA, it is up to the individual assistive technology to render that content for the user.

Adobe is committed to expanding the number of tools that take advantage of the new features of Flash Player. We are working with leading vendors of assistive technology to help ensure the broadest possible support for Flash Player. To date, the following assistive technologies support Flash Player: Window-Eyes from GW Micro, JAWS from Freedom Scientific, Home Page Reader from IBM, and ZoomText from Ai Squared.

Is the Flash CS3 authoring tool Section 508 compliant?

For information on our compliance with industry accessibility standards for authoring tools, consult the Adobe Voluntary Product Accessibility Template. We continue to closely monitor conformance of the Flash authoring tool to accessibility guidelines. For future versions, Adobe is committed to enabling our customers to comply with Section 508 by delivering accessible solutions for the Flash authoring tool.

Is there a tool that validates Flash content automatically?

No. Flash content is inherently more complex than HTML. Consequently, it is difficult to construct measurable rules and even more difficult to validate those rules. Flash content may be easily created to comply with Section 508 guidelines; however, these guidelines do not directly translate into guidelines for Flash content. For example, Section 508 and the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) require that a text alternative be provided for all images in HTML. In cases where the image contains no content, a special alt tag is used to hide the image from a screen reader. In Flash CS3 Professional, text equivalents are not needed for all elements of a Flash movie. Using the autolabeling feature, text equivalents are automatically provided for several elements. Moreover, designers and developers can use the Make Child Object Accessible feature to hide elements that convey no content or are difficult to render using assistive technologies.

Can everything I do with Flash CS3 be made accessible by following design techniques?

As a designer or developer, you can accomplish your business objectives and design for accessibility while still incorporating Flash content into your website as long as you embark upon your project with an awareness of Section 508 and accessibility needs.

Flash CS3 Professional offers a great deal of functionality, ranging from capabilities for designing simple graphics, animations, and navigations to tools for creating JavaScript-like programming functions and reading dynamic text through XML. Designers and developers continue to push the limits of Flash development.

While a wide range of design possibilities can be made to comply with the Section 508 guidelines using design techniques and integrating complementary technologies with Flash, some Flash content will never be accessible using the current version of Flash Player. Such content includes dynamic text variables and custom navigational elements, which are not exposed to the operating system using the same methods as HTML.