Interview - Bob Regan, Accessibility Product Manager, Macromedia

Current Products - Output

How do you approach the improvement of the accessibility of your products' outputs?

There are three measures that shape the output of our tools. First, we measure the output of our tools against Web and accessibility standards. Second, we check our tools for interoperability with assistive technologies such as screen readers. Third -- and most importantly -- we seek out input from customers with disabilities to collect feedback on our tools.

Which products are you focusing on primarily and how are you approaching this?

We try to incorporate accessibility into every product. However, we're known for our work with Dreamweaver, Flash and Contribute.

What progress have you made so far?

Terrific, but we're not done yet! Accessibility often involves a complicated process of building in support for accessibility APIs in the OS such as MSAA, assistive technologies and standards. In several instances, the industry has run into some very serious challenges.

We're dedicated to continually making our tools better, more accessible and more usable for people with disabilities.

Are there any areas of accessibility where your products can produce output that's more accessible than other technologies such as XHTML and CSS?

Accessibility needs to be understood broadly. For someone who's blind, the most accessible form of content is plain text, perhaps marked up with xhtml and css. However, for someone with a cognitive disability, the least accessible form of content is plain text.

In order for many forms of content to be truly accessible, they need to be multi-modal. Think of a math course. Imagine trying to understand the concept of a diameter and the relationship to circumference without images. Using rich media technologies such as Flash, a teacher can present this concept interactively that may make the concept more accessible to many students with and without cognitive disabilities.

An interactive Flash movie may not be the most accessible format for a child who is blind, but that does not mean that it should not be available to child with other disabilities. It only means that it should not be the only means of accessing this content.

Current Products - Environment

How accessible are your product environments currently?

Both Dreamweaver and Contribute have been designed to be tools that can be easily used by people who are blind. We are working now with the National Federation of the Blind to develop tutorials for blind developers to learn html and Web design using our tools.

Will you be improving the accessibility of your product environments for disabled developers?

Yes. Whenever and wherever we can.

Developer Community

How are you improving the awareness of accessibility within your developer community?

We work to incorporate accessibility into all of our training and documentation materials, we include sessions on accessibility at our own conferences, and we deliver sessions at a variety of other conferences discussing accessibility.

What response have you had so far?

Very, very positive. Designers are increasingly required to incorporate accessibility into their specs. We are able to introduce the topic in a manner that's both familiar to designers, and consistent with their existing workflow.

New Products

I believe you have a new product called Breeze coming out soon. What's the take on accessibility there?

Breeze is currently the most accessible product of its kind on the market. We have worked to ensure that the solution is accessible to people with disabilities by adding in support for screen readers via the Flash player, but also via the keyboard, to make it easier to control the movie.

Does Macromedia Central affect the accessibility of Flash?

No, but the accessibility of Flash affects the accessibility of Central. At the moment, Central is not accessible, but like all our products, it is a priority.

Central is not accessible as it uses the standalone Flash player. At the moment, only the ActiveX Flash player is accessible.

Will accessibility be integrated into all new products?

Every product includes a plan for accessibility. We try to consider what use cases are likely for each product and incorporate support where we can. Obviously, the plan for Fireworks is different from the plan for Dreamweaver. However, there is a plan for every product.

Many thanks to Bob for taking the time to complete this interview.