Skills for Access

Description

Director MX and MX 2004 are applications from Macromedia that allow the creation of a wide range of media rich applications for access in different environments. Director can be used to create complex multimedia presentations for CD-ROMs, DVDs or for use in public access kiosks. For web resources, Director can also be used to author interactive 3D Web content (Shockwave).

To access Director content on the Web requires a user to have the Shockwave player. Shockwave players are freely available for Windows and Mac operating systems.

Example

This example is an interactive Shockwave movie designed to allow keyboard accessible navigation and display of specific information. When selected, information about each project is shown in the space below the four project options.

Play the Shockwave example movie.

Accessibility Issues

The nature of animated Director and Shockwave content is such that while it can significantly enhance the user experience for many people, it also has potential to introduce a number of accessibility barriers:

• Assistive technology incompatibilities, or even the absence of an assistive technology (for example, a Director application may be intended for access through a public kiosk where no screen reader exists). These may make a Director resource inaccessible to someone who is unable to see it. However, to overcome problems with screen reading technology, Director includes its own text-to-speech technology, Speech Xtra.
• Keyboard Accessibility - without appropriate steps taken by the designer, Director content may be difficult or impossible to use for anyone unable to use a mouse. Director provides ways in which developers can specify keyboard navigation.
• Audio equivalents - if Director movies are provided with audio content, people unable to hear the movie may also experience access barriers. Director has a facility to provide captions as text alternatives to audio.
• Display problems - without appropriate steps taken by the designer, Director content may be difficult or impossible to read for people with certain visual impairments. Highly animated content may also cause problems for people with reduced attention span or photosensitive epilepsy.

Director's scripting language, Lingo, can also be used to configure or create advanced accessibility features.