The following was written by Leigh Blackall, referring to a post on Accessible Rich Media from his Flash example. The text was slightly edited for writing style and I (James) added some links and hierarchical headings.
It’s a breakthrough to have input from an outsider at last. Refreshing perspectives and all. Thanks James, for taking the time to extend on your statement of Flash not being as accessible as HTML, I see now that you were referring simply to its operability with screen reader technologies, so what you say in that case is correct.
It’s a shame that we didn’t have the sketch of our Accessible Rich Media example up for you to comment on, as your input would have fueled a number of new ideas I’m sure. In the absence of this example, I’d like to propose a number of solutions to the various challenges James put up for Flash composed content here. So, with my one sole finger and aching arm, let me try to continue the discussion using each of James’ points to launch from.
Where the need for operability with a screen reader is unavoidable; it is possible to create successful rich media sites by seamlessly combining Flash and HTML.
Way back in Flash 5 days, I tried a combo of HTML and Flash to achieve an accessible community forum site with functionality much like this site. However, the user group profile was different and included things like poor bandwidth, limited access time, aged users (most with almost zero computer literacy), and a minor possibility of blind users.
We chose Flash so we could have complete control of the visual interface design and download timeline. Back in those days, Flash’s operability with screen reader technology was more or less zilch! We created an HTML host page focusing on screen reader usability and sharing the dynamic content that Flash displayed. Hidden, just above the Flash movie was a link that only a screen reader would see that said, “If you are using a screen reader, enter here.” This link simply skipped the Flash movie and moved the tab to the HTML-based navigation below. Because the HTML was designed solely for the screen reader, usability for the blind was as best as we could get it and Flash was free to be as visually engaging as it needed to be.
James asked how we verify accessibility in this project. Well we have taken steps to verify usability for a blind person by asking Stephen, a project member who is blind, to trial our prototypes for us, but as he is very busy, I ended up downloading JAWS (our chosen reader) and blindfolding myself for a while. But this doesn’t verify much accessibility, does it? It only verifies screen reader operability and that’s just not good enough.
Usability, with or without the reader, remains the toughest problem. I test that the same way we all do: I email it to my mum to have a go and note all that goes wrong. Bless her.
As you can see by this post (see Flash example.), if Flash is your chosen compilation tool, it is possible to make content accessible in more ways than one, this being the most simple way.
To achieve this example, I typed the text up in Word, read it aloud to my video camera, exported the audio and a couple of frames to Flash, and set it up for delivery over the Internet. I used the Word document for basic captioning that I might fancy up later, and the video tape when I don’t have a computer handy.
You are probably thinking that it costs too much to develop something like this, but I assure you, typing this up took the longest and so unavoidably cost the most, getting into this was easy. You are probably also thinking that it takes a long time to learn the Flash and video skills, but I don’t think so: I’ve taught 12-year-old computer newbies how to do this in less than a day. It takes about the same time to teach someone how to use a screen reader effectively.
I much prefer this approach to accessibility, as it is a more universal solution (Editor’s note: Flash is more accessible than what? Accessibility? I’ll update this sentence if Leigh elobarates.) and therefore one step closer to an inclusive learning environment. I think it’s even possible to create a Flash application that will capture audio so it can be included with the presentation, much like Macromedia’s new product, Breeze Presentation, or others programs like I-Create. But it’ll take a fare bit of learning Flash application development to do that.
As for language versions, well, I’m working on that too. Click the Chinese Characters below to test out my attempt at translating this to Mandarin. (Editor’s note: Mandarin was only available in audio form with the following English translation.)
Hello all, my name is “Black As One.” This is my Flash example. Sorry that my Mandarin is so poor, I learnt it in Taiwan for 6 months but I forget a lot. No matter, it shows what I mean.
I know, you want it to be automatic, using an external script like Babelfish... Well, why don’t we just run Babelfish on the host server and have Flash XML caption this back to the server, PHP it to Babelfish, save the translation to MySQL for next time, PHP it back to XML, and back to Flash again. But that’ll be far from perfect as technology is a long way off translating between English and Chinese, how about I just pay my Chinese mate to do it instead and make it perfect... and save the auto version for that dynamic content.