Flash and Microsoft Active Accessibility (Windows only)

Flash Player is optimized for Microsoft Active Accessibility (MSAA), which provides a descriptive and standardized way for applications and screen readers to communicate. MSAA is available only for Windows operating systems. For more information on Microsoft Accessibility Technology, visit the Microsoft Accessibility website at www.microsoft.com/enable/default.aspx.

The Windows ActiveX (Internet Explorer plug‑in) version of Flash Player 6 supports MSAA, but Windows Netscape and Windows stand-alone players do not.

Flash Player makes information about the following types of accessibility objects available to screen readers that use MSAA.

Dynamic or static text

The principal property of a text object is its name. To comply with MSAA conventions, the name is equal to the contents of the text string. A text object can also have an associated description string. Flash uses the static or dynamic text immediately above or to the left of an input text field as a label for that field.

Note: Any text that is a label is not passed to a screen reader, but is used as the name of the object that it labels. Labels are never assigned to buttons or text fields that have author-supplied names.

Input text fields

Have a value, an optional name, a description string, and a keyboard shortcut string. An input text object’s name can come from a text object that is above or to the left of it.

Buttons

Have a state (pressed or not pressed), support a programmatic default action that causes the button to depress momentarily, and optionally have a name, a description string, and a keyboard-shortcut string. Flash uses any text entirely inside a button as a label for that button.

Note: For accessibility purposes, Flash Player considers movie clips used as buttons with button event handlers such as onPress to be buttons, not movie clips.

Components

Provide special accessibility implementation.

Movie clips

Exposed to screen readers as graphic objects when they do not contain any other accessible objects, or when you use the Accessibility panel to provide a name or a description for a movie clip. When a movie clip contains other accessible objects, the clip itself is ignored, and the objects inside it are made available to screen readers.

Note: All Flash Video objects are treated as simple movie clips.