A centre of expertise in digital information managementwww.ukoln.ac.uk Accessibility and Usability For Web Sites: Flash For Web Sites: Good, Bad Or Ugly? Brian Kelly UKOLN University of Bath Bath URL UKOLN is supported by: Use of Flash: Great for developing attractive and highly interactive Web sites A terrible innovation, which results in poor quality, inaccessible Web sites (which thankfully are difficult to find in Google!) Use of Flash: Great for developing attractive and highly interactive Web sites A terrible innovation, which results in poor quality, inaccessible Web sites (which thankfully are difficult to find in Google!)

A centre of expertise in digital information managementwww.ukoln.ac.uk 2 About Flash What Is Flash? Flash (SWF) is a file format developed by Macromedia to deliver graphics & animation on the Web Advantages Of Flash Can create attractive & usable interactive Web site Widely supported "over 95% of Web users" Disadvantages Of Flash Is 95% figure really true? What about users on new devices, users behind some firewalls, … Accessibility problems Architectural problems (discussed later)

A centre of expertise in digital information managementwww.ukoln.ac.uk 3 The Good Survey of priorities for a portal (with iPod prize!): Available in Flash & HTML Equal access to both versions In Flash version: Process of moving cards to appropriate stack helps reflective process Avoided 'ticking all in middle column' syndrome, leaving default values, …

A centre of expertise in digital information managementwww.ukoln.ac.uk 4 The Bad And Ugly! Some questions: What should I click on? Why the flower? How do I integrate resources into a VLE? How do I cite various elements of the resource? How do I resize text, change colours, …? How do I use without a mouse? …

A centre of expertise in digital information managementwww.ukoln.ac.uk 5 Case Study – Weetwood.co.uk The Weetwood Hall conference venue in Leeds was used for a workshop recently. The venue Web site at was used to: Find out about the rooms to be used and technical facilities available Find details of the location, nearby accommodation and pubs Share this information will speakers and delegates

A centre of expertise in digital information managementwww.ukoln.ac.uk 6 Weetwood.co.uk – The Good The Web site is a Flash site. It uses Flash to: Provide rich functionality for viewing the venue facilities (slider bars, pop-up images, …) Site navigation …

A centre of expertise in digital information managementwww.ukoln.ac.uk 7 Weetwood.co.uk – The Bad (1) The Web site: Uses pop-ups, (increasingly disabled in new browsers) – does user miss out key information? Text cannot be copied Text does not flow and not resizable in normal way

A centre of expertise in digital information managementwww.ukoln.ac.uk 8 Weetwood.co.uk – The Bad (2) The Web site: Requires Flash (link to Flash site shown if Flash unavailable) Isn't search-engine friendly – no text to index For this information-based resource (with small interactive element) no or limited content displayed: If Flash or JavaScript not available On new browsers with default settings On PDAs, mobile phones, … Weetwood Hall … <object classid="clsid:D27CDB6E-AE6D- 11cf-96B " codebase=" … id="weetwood"> … Subscribe to newsletter | Latest news

A centre of expertise in digital information managementwww.ukoln.ac.uk 9 Weetwood.co.uk – The Ugly (1) The Web site actually does have a HTML equivalent – but its is very difficult to find! Flash Site HTML site With the HTML site users can: Copy text Bookmark pages See link destinations Resize text Use browser controls to suit personal preferences … If you wished to book venue for a conference for disabled, the Web site would be a barrier – you can't easily bookmark page on disabled access 

A centre of expertise in digital information managementwww.ukoln.ac.uk 10 Weetwood.co.uk – The Ugly (2) How I found the HTML site: An advanced Google search was used to find pages in the weetwood.co.uk domain Question DDA legislation requires organisations to take reasonable measures to ensure disabled users aren't unfairly discriminated against. There is a feeling that end users should also be expected to make reasonable adjustments. If a visually impaired dyslexic user needs to resize text and change background colour, can they be reasonably expected to find the HTML site in this way? Question DDA legislation requires organisations to take reasonable measures to ensure disabled users aren't unfairly discriminated against. There is a feeling that end users should also be expected to make reasonable adjustments. If a visually impaired dyslexic user needs to resize text and change background colour, can they be reasonably expected to find the HTML site in this way?

A centre of expertise in digital information managementwww.ukoln.ac.uk 11 Weetwood.co.uk – The Ugly (3) With a Flash site and a HTML site to maintain there are issues about maintenance of the data: Are there two sets of information to maintain? There is a danger that the less- used area will become out-of-date. Does one area contain a sub-set of the data? Useful (though out-of-date) information on network availability No information on network availability A supermarket Web site won award for its accessibility - but disabled users could only access part of Web site – and missed special offers. Is this fair? Is this legal?

A centre of expertise in digital information managementwww.ukoln.ac.uk 12 Lessons The Weetwood Web site: Valuable information & useful extra functionality Further use shows problems for all (lack of bookmarking, …) Web site is also inaccessible for many The Web site could be improved: Easily be adding a single link to HTML site from entry point which loads Flash page Easily by adding links to HTML version from Flash site More radically by providing a HTML site which links to Flash for required functionality Issues: How should you avoid mistakes at the specification stage? How should you test Web site prior to acceptance to ensure it complies with specification? Issues: How should you avoid mistakes at the specification stage? How should you test Web site prior to acceptance to ensure it complies with specification? Note that Weetwood Hall was a good venue for event held recently

A centre of expertise in digital information managementwww.ukoln.ac.uk 13 Any Questions? Any questions?