Recently I was looking into Continuous Integration and as you do I started thinking of all the automation I'd like to integrate in an ideal world. One of them was running accessibility tests. As this is a bit of an unknown subject to me, I thought the ideal time arose to learn more on this topic and not to just accept the vanilla response that Flash is accessible.
So just how much do you need to worry about your Flash content. Well it would seem not that much. Adobe has worked hard to improve Accessibility throughout the years. And the result is quite impressive. However I think awareness among developers are thin and needs to improve as there are still things that each developer need to do to ensure the project is accessible. Adobe has released Accessible Best Practices which too be honest I haven't heard of before I started on this venture. More resources at the end of this post.
So what does open government have to do with Flash and more so with accessibility? Adobe recently launched a website dedicated to the Open Government initiative. Adobe PDF and Flash technologies are at the forefront and in use within the US Government. Many feel that this is a problem but it would seem more to do with the transparency of the data than the tools used to display the data. Granted PDF's aren't the most open format to use for distributing data but it works a charm for forms etc.
The biggest problem with the Open Government website was it wasn't accessible and many flaws were pointed out by the public. Define irony. Like iron.
Commercial websites have no obligation to be accessible, but government websites are required by law to be accessible, US Government sites and a few other countries that is. Don't floor me on this technicality. The point is, openness is important to all of us whether you are the US government, Adobe or just a single contract Actionscripter doing yet another microsite. Openness and Accessibility more often than not hold hands as they walk off in the sunset. Remember that.
"ACTF is a framework that serves as an extensible infrastructure upon which developers can build a variety of utilities that help to evaluate and enhance the accessibility of applications and content for people with disabilities. A collection of example utilities will also be provided which were created on top of the framework such as compliance validation tools, assistive technology simulation applications, usability visualization tools, unit-testing utilities, and alternative accessible interfaces for applications. The ACTF componentry and the utilities will be integrated into a single tooling environment on top of the Eclipse framework. The framework components will function cooperatively with each other and with other Eclipse projects to provide a comprehensive development environment for creating accessible applications and content. "
Let's put it to the test. I ran my own website which is nothing big but have the standard microsite components. Buttons, dynamic content and some animation through scripting. Below is a screen of what you get when running ACTF. Notice the Flash Outline giving me Nameless instance values for my DisplayObjects.
The power in ACTF is the GUI Report. This report will show any accessible problems. If this is clear you can sigh a relief. Clicking on any of the items within the GUI Outline will highlight it in the output window.
As you can I need to do some work on specifying names for my buttons and alternative text to the graphic.
This is an amazing tool. It works well with HTML too so play around with it and it will become quite evident why this is important. I've yet to integrate this in my automation process but I fear not. It will be mine.
Open Government
Open Government is something that was introduced by President Obama in a memo calling for his government to be open. Open how you say? Well his idea is to "establish a system of transparency, public participation, and collaboration". Sounds familiar? No? Long live Ubuntu!So what does open government have to do with Flash and more so with accessibility? Adobe recently launched a website dedicated to the Open Government initiative. Adobe PDF and Flash technologies are at the forefront and in use within the US Government. Many feel that this is a problem but it would seem more to do with the transparency of the data than the tools used to display the data. Granted PDF's aren't the most open format to use for distributing data but it works a charm for forms etc.
The biggest problem with the Open Government website was it wasn't accessible and many flaws were pointed out by the public. Define irony. Like iron.
Commercial websites have no obligation to be accessible, but government websites are required by law to be accessible, US Government sites and a few other countries that is. Don't floor me on this technicality. The point is, openness is important to all of us whether you are the US government, Adobe or just a single contract Actionscripter doing yet another microsite. Openness and Accessibility more often than not hold hands as they walk off in the sunset. Remember that.
Accessibility Tools Framework (ACTF)
What a wonderful thing being open is. Eclipse may have a bad rep for new comers but the power and extensibility underneath this open IDE is unmatched. ACTF is an Eclipse plugin perspective to test HTML and Flash Accessibility. It started as a headless piece of work and was quickly supported by IBM and integrated into the Eclipse environment. Below is an excerpt from the site:"ACTF is a framework that serves as an extensible infrastructure upon which developers can build a variety of utilities that help to evaluate and enhance the accessibility of applications and content for people with disabilities. A collection of example utilities will also be provided which were created on top of the framework such as compliance validation tools, assistive technology simulation applications, usability visualization tools, unit-testing utilities, and alternative accessible interfaces for applications. The ACTF componentry and the utilities will be integrated into a single tooling environment on top of the Eclipse framework. The framework components will function cooperatively with each other and with other Eclipse projects to provide a comprehensive development environment for creating accessible applications and content. "
Let's put it to the test. I ran my own website which is nothing big but have the standard microsite components. Buttons, dynamic content and some animation through scripting. Below is a screen of what you get when running ACTF. Notice the Flash Outline giving me Nameless instance values for my DisplayObjects.
The power in ACTF is the GUI Report. This report will show any accessible problems. If this is clear you can sigh a relief. Clicking on any of the items within the GUI Outline will highlight it in the output window.
As you can I need to do some work on specifying names for my buttons and alternative text to the graphic.
This is an amazing tool. It works well with HTML too so play around with it and it will become quite evident why this is important. I've yet to integrate this in my automation process but I fear not. It will be mine.
Resource
- ACTF
- South African Government moves to Open Source
- Adobe pushes Flash and PDF for open government, misses irony
- Adobe is Bad for Open Government
- Adobe Accessibility blog
- Adobe Accessibility resources
- Adobe Accessibility Best Practices (Select Flash from the dropdown)
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