Graphics Reference
In-Depth Information
About Accessibility
Accessibility is the term that many people use to indicate that a prod-
uct, such as a Flash movie or HTML page, can be read (or accessed)
by people with a variety of limitations. For example, people with lim-
ited or no vision may use screen reader software that reads printed
text aloud. Or people with limited manual dexterity may prefer to use
assistive devices with a keyboard instead of a mouse.
Many countries have adopted accessibility standards based on the
Web Content Accessibility Guidelines from the World Wide Web Con-
sortium (W3C). For information about the Web Accessibility Initiative,
see the W3C web site at www.w3.org/WAI.
The United States government has mandated that all federal agen-
cies' electronic and information technology be accessible to people
with disabilities. This regulation, often referred to as Section 508,
includes a detailed set of standards that many companies find useful
even if they aren't selling to the U.S. government. For more informa-
tion about the United States government regulation Section 508, see
www.section508.gov.
Although Captivate does include an output option check box that
creates 508-compliant output from information you've entered, it is
primarily concerned with making your output available to screen
reader software. You must still ensure that you've entered the
required information. There are three areas to consider:
Audio elements. If people with various degrees of deafness watch
your movie, they may not be able to hear your audio elements. It
is important that you check each audio file to ensure that any
important information contained in the audio file is also available in
a visual element. For example, if your audio simply contains back-
ground music, you don't need to do anything. If your audio
includes instructions to the viewer, those instructions should also
be printed on the slide (in any of the different text captions or even
as part of the background). If you use audio to indicate success
(such as applause) or failure (such as a buzzer), then there must
also be a visual distinction between these two indicators.
