[nfbcs] A letter I wrote to the folks who make wimpy player.

[E.J. Zufelt]

Good evening,

Does this Flash player come with code to control the player through  
dhtml links?  The reason that I ask is that Flash is inaccessible to  
Linux and Mac screen-reader users and some Windows screen-reader users.

Thanks,
Everett

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On 14-Apr-09, at 9:32 PM, Kevin Reeves wrote:

> Hey folks. As you all are aware, more and more websites are employing
> embeddable players for audio and video content. One of the most  
> ubiquitous
> player on the net right now is called the Wimpy Player,
> http://www.wimpyplayer.com. Fortunately for us, these players are  
> quite
> accessible with Screen readers, allowing us to interact with all the  
> buttons
> and read the currently playing song or video. However, there are  
> several
> unlabeled buttons in the window, which Jaws arbitrarily assigns  
> numbers too.
> I wrote the company to make them aware of this and see if labeling  
> these
> buttons could be implemented on the application layer itself or  
> implemented
> in the development of a special skin. Below is my letter. I wanted  
> to open
> some dialogue about this and see what you guys thought. I'll keep  
> you posted
> as to their response.
>
> Good afternoon. My name is Kevin Reeves. I'm a blind musician who  
> will be
> deploying wimpy player on my sites. I love it's ease of use and  
> straight
> ahead configurability. However, I do have one question. As a blind  
> person, I
> use special screen reading software such as Jaws for Windows. When  
> viewing a
> site and navigating the flash player, some of the buttons are nicely
> labeled, and Jaws speaks them when they are encountered. Also, Jaws  
> reads
> the currently playing item in the playlist. However, there are several
> buttons that are apparently not labeled in the standard fashion. Jaws
> assigns an arbitrary number to said buttons. As the user encounters  
> those
> buttons, it reads like this. "13 button, 12 button, 10 button, etc."  
> Are
> these buttons labeled with bitmap images? Also, are buttons and other
> control elements labeled at the application layer, or in the skin?  
> If the
> former, is there a way to incorporate said labels into an upcoming  
> release?
> If this were to be accomplished, your customers would be able to  
> provide A
> much more fulfilling web media experience to those who are blind or  
> visually
> impaired. Any help you could provide in this matter would be greatly
> appreciated.
>
> Kevin Reeves
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