Creating accessible web experiences has never been more important than today. Accessibility continues to gain recognition and with the recent adoption of accessibility standards across the world, designers and developers must ensure that people with disabilities are able to access the contents of websites and web applications.
With Macromedia Flex, designers and developers can create powerful, exciting, and engaging experiences on the web that are accessible to all. With a robust set of accessibility features built in, including 23 accessible components, it's never been easier to design accessible Rich Internet Applications (RIAs).
Flex inherits all the accessibility advantages of Flash Player 7, including support for Microsoft Active Accessibility (MSAA), which means that users of assistive technologies can now access the best experience on the web. In fact, Macromedia Flex improves the user experience by providing tree controls, which make the structure of a website readily apparent and easily navigable for users with disabilities.
For the Flex designer and developer, the challenge of accessible design is to remove any obstacles that prevent assistive technologies like screen readers or keyboard-only tools from functioning effectively when rendering Macromedia Flex RIAs. Achieving this goal ultimately requires designers and developers to pay special attention to the potential use cases for disability and design with these particular experiences in mind.
This section offers a brief overview of the accessibility features in Macromedia Flex. For more detailed instructions on building accessible RIAs in Macromedia Flex, consult the section on Accessibility Best Practices for Flex.
Enabling Macromedia Flex Accessibility
Macromedia Flex offers a complete set of tools for authoring accessible RIAs. However, Flex applications are not accessible by default. In order to make an application created with Flex accessible, you need to enable accessibility for that application. Doing so imports the accessibility object for each component used in the application, which increases the size of the SWF file slightly. You can activate accessibility easily in three different ways: on the server level for all Flex applications, in the command-line compiler, or by the end user when appending "accessibility=true" to the URL. For example:
http://www.mycompany.com/myflexapp/appl.mxml?accessible=true
Incorporating Macromedia Flash Player 7
Using Macromedia Flash Player 7 to display Flex content allows users the most accessible experience possible. Macromedia Flash Player 7 is the first rich media player that makes rich media accessible to people with disabilities. Now it is enhanced to make the best experience on the web even better by integrating support for MSAA. Using Macromedia Flash Player 7, people with visual disabilities can now access the web using either Window-Eyes from GW Micro or JAWS from Freedom Scientific. With new support for scripting and a powerful new set of accessible components, as well as a host of new support materials from the Macromedia Accessibility Resource Center, designers and developers can create accessible rich media in ways never before possible.
Using Accessible Macromedia Flex Components
To accelerate the development of accessible applications, Macromedia Flex includes 23 components with support for accessibility built in. These components automate many of the most common accessibility practices, such as providing text equivalents, labeling controls, and ensuring keyboard access. Using these components helps ensure a consistent user experience across rich applications. For a detailed list of components and accessibility-related issues, please refer to the section on Accessible Flex Components.
Custom components developed for use in Flex are not accessible by default. Developers must hand-code the MSAA data. Because the effort involved in creating accessible components is significant, we recommend that developers use the components provided when accessible applications are required.
Learning from the Accessibility Resource Center
The Macromedia Accessibility Resource Center provides a number of documents offering tips and techniques to designers and developers seeking to create accessible content. Visit the Accessibility Resource Center to find more information on accessibility. This site is frequently updated with new tools and information to support accessible design in Macromedia Flex.
