Keystroke Capture and Flash MX

This example demonstrates how keystrokes can be used to access buttons in a Flash movie. The Description accessibility attribute denotes which keys activate each button ("A" for the NCAM site, "B" for the Access to Rich Media Project site, "C" for the Macromedia Accessibility site). This is especially utilizing only the keyboard for navigation.

This approach is not without problems. This example works with JAWS, but not Window-Eyes, and keyboard users need to enure that the focus is on the Flash movie by clicking on it or tabbing to it before hitting the shortcut key. Another issue is one of communication; users need to know what keys to strike. The Flash accessibilty panel has a space for the keyboard shortcut so the user can be notified, but this is currently unsupported.