MACROMEDIA FLASH MX 2004-USING FLASH Use Manual page 360

All objects in Flash documents must have instance names for you to apply accessibility options to
them. You create instance names for objects in the Property inspector. The instance name is used
to refer to the object in ActionScript.
To open the Accessibility panel:
Select Window > Other Panels > Accessibility.
1.
Select from the available options:
2.
Make Object Accessible
object to a screen reader. This option is selected by default; when the option is disabled,
accessibility information for the object is not passed to screen readers. You might find it useful
to disable this option as you test content for accessibility because some objects may be
extraneous or decorative and making them accessible could produce confusing results in the
Screen Reader. You can then apply a name manually to the labeled object, and hide the labeling
text by deselecting Make Object Accessible. When Make Object Accessible is disabled, all
other controls on the Accessibility panel are disabled.
Make Child Objects Accessible
screen reader. This option is for movie clips only and is selected by default. Disabling this
option for a movie clip causes that movie clip to appear as a simple clip in the accessible object
tree, even if the clip contains text, buttons, and other objects. All objects within the movie clip
are then hidden from the object tree. Like the Make Object Accessible option, this option is
useful mainly for hiding extraneous objects from screen readers.
Note: If a movie clip is used as a button, meaning that it has a button event handler assigned to it,
such as
onPress
buttons are always treated as simple clips, and their children are never examined, except in the
case of labels.
Auto Label instructs Flash to automatically label objects on the Stage with the text associated
with them. See
Name
specifies the object name. Screen readers identify objects by reading these names aloud.
When accessible objects don't have specified names, a screen reader might read a generic word,
such as Button, which can be confusing.
Caution: Do not confuse object names specified in the Accessibility panel with instance names
specified in the Property inspector.
Description
lets you enter a description of the object to the screen reader. This description is
read by the screen reader.
Shortcut
is used to describe keyboard shortcuts to the user. The text entered in this text box is
read by the screen reader. Entering keyboard shortcut text here does not create a keyboard
shortcut for the selected object. You must provide ActionScript keyboard handlers in order to
create shortcut keys. For more information, see
Tab Index (Flash Professional only)
the user presses the tab key. The tab index feature works for keyboard navigation through a
page, but not for screen reader reading order. For information on how to use this field, see
"Creating a tab order index for keyboard navigation in the Accessibility panel (Flash
Professional only)" on page
360 Chapter 17: Creating Accessible Content
instructs Flash Player to pass the accessibility information for an
instructs Flash Player to pass child object information to the
or , the Make Child Objects Accessible option is ignored because
onRelease
"Using automatic labeling" on page
367.
361.
"Creating a keyboard shortcut" on page
creates a tab order in which objects are accessed when
364.