Choosing Text Equivalents in Flash MX©
Bob Regan
Sr. Product Manager for Accessibility
Macromedia
San Francisco, California
USA
Flash is an immensely popular tool for creating web based animations and rich Internet applications. The Flash player is installed on more than 98% of the computers on the web today. One the reasons Flash is so popular is because it can be used to create unique experiences on the web. One of the reasons Flash is so powerful is that is can be used to create unique experiences for all users, regardless of disability.
Blind computer users frequently rely on a tool known as a screen reader to present the contents of the screen. Screen readers can easily text in a web page or a Flash movie. However, screen readers can not ‘read’ graphics or images on the screen. The designer must include a text description that will be read by a screen reader.
Take the example below.
To assign the text equivalent using the accessibility panel, simply make the panel visible by selecting Window > Accessibility. This brings the accessibility panel to the front.
This panel includes two fields, name and description, as well as three options, make movie accessible, make child objects accessible and auto-label.
This panel will appear this way at the root level of the movie, when nothing is selected. For a small animation such as the one shown above, you will likely assign a simple text equivalent at the root level of the movie only.
Enter the text equivalent in the Name field of the Accessibility panel. In this case, we’ll use “Moon orbiting planet.” This will assign a text equivalent for the entire movie.
