The purpose of the Voluntary Product Accessibility Template is to assist Federal contracting officials in making preliminary assessments regarding the availability of commercial Electronic and Information Technology products and services with features that support accessibility. It is assumed that offerers will provide additional contact information to facilitate more detailed inquiries.
The first table of the Template provides a summary view of the section 508 Standards. The subsequent tables provide more detailed views of each subsection. There are three columns in each table. Column one of the Summary Table describes the subsections of subparts B and C of the Standards. The second column describes the supporting features of the product or refers you to the corresponding detailed table, "e.g., equivalent facilitation." The third column contains any additional remarks and explanations regarding the product. In the subsequent tables, the first column contains the lettered paragraphs of the subsections. The second column describes the supporting features of the product with regard to that paragraph. The third column contains any additional remarks and explanations regarding the product.
Date: September 9, 2014
Name of product: Adobe® Flash® Player 15
Contact for more information: access@adobe.com
Summary Table
Guideline |
Applicable |
Compliance |
|
§1194.21 – Software Applications and Operating Systems |
Applicable |
Supports with Exceptions (Windows) Supports with Exceptions (OSX) |
|
§1194.22 – Web-based Intranet and Internet Information and Systems |
Not Applicable |
- |
|
§1194.23 – Telecommunications Products |
Not Applicable |
- |
|
§1194.24 – Video and Multimedia Products |
Applicable |
Supports |
|
§1194.25 – Self-Contained, Closed Products |
Not Applicable |
- |
|
§1194.26 – Desktop and Portable Computers |
Not Applicable |
- |
|
§1194.31 – Functional Performance Criteria |
Applicable |
Supports (Windows) Supports with Exceptions (OSX) |
|
§1194.41 – Information, Documentation, Support |
Applicable |
Supports |
Criteria |
Supporting features |
Remarks and explanations |
|
Supports |
||
|
(b) Applications shall not disrupt or disable activated features of other products that are identified as accessibility features, where those features are developed and documented according to industry standards. Applications also shall not disrupt or disable activated features of any operating system that are identified as accessibility features where the application programming interface for those accessibility features has been documented by the manufacturer of the operating system and is available to the product developer. |
Supports |
|
|
(c) A well-defined on-screen indication of the current focus shall be provided that moves among interactive interface elements as the input focus changes. The focus shall be programmatically exposed so that Assistive Technology can track focus and focus changes. |
Supports with Exceptions (Windows)
Does Not Support (OSX) |
Adobe Flash Player 15 provides a solid yellow focus rectangle that is easily viewed and programmatically exposed. Flash Player 15 does not natively provide a mechanism for displaying or programmatically exposing focus within content rendered using Stage3D.
On OSX, while Adobe Flash Player 15 still provides a solid yellow focus rectangle that is easily viewed, the focus is not programmatically exposed so that Assistive Technology can track focus and focus changes. |
|
Supports with Exceptions (Windows)
Does Not Support (OSX) |
Flash Player 15 uses the Microsoft Active Accessibility API and other interfaces to programmatically expose information about user interface elements in the ActiveX and plug-in version of Flash Player. Flash Player 15 does not natively expose accessibility information for content rendered using Stage 3D. Flash Player 15 does not expose any information about a user interface element to assistive technology on OSX, including the identity, operation and state of the element. |
|
|
(e) When bitmap images are used to identify controls, status indicators, or other programmatic elements, the meaning assigned to those images shall be consistent throughout an application's performance. |
Supports |
|
|
(f) Textual information shall be provided through operating system functions for displaying text. The minimum information that shall be made available is text content, text input caret location, and text attributes. |
Supports with Exceptions (Windows)
Does Not Support (OSX) |
Flash Player 15 does not natively expose textual information for text content rendered using Stage 3D.
Flash Player 15 does not expose any textual information through operating system functions on OSX, including text content, text input caret location, and text attributes. |
|
(g) Applications shall not override user selected contrast and color selections and other individual display attributes. |
Supports |
|
|
(h) When animation is displayed, the information shall be displayable in at least one non-animated presentation mode at the option of the user. |
Supports |
Flash Player 15 can be used to display animation, and this use is covered in VPAT documents for individual products that are used to author the animated content. |
|
Supports |
|
|
|
(j) When a product permits a user to adjust color and contrast settings, a variety of color selections capable of producing a range of contrast levels shall be provided. |
Supports |
|
|
(k) Software shall not use flashing or blinking text, objects, or other elements having a flash or blink frequency greater than 2 Hz and lower than 55 Hz. |
Supports |
|
|
Supports |
The Flash Player contains two menus for configuration: Settings and Global Settings. Global Settings is an OS-native dialog and is directly accessible; Settings runs inside the Flash object and is not directly accessible to people using assistive technologies. Global Settings exposes the same functionality as Settings. |
Criteria |
Supporting features |
Remarks and explanations |
|
a) All analog television displays 13 inches and larger, and computer equipment that includes analog television receiver or display circuitry, shall be equipped with caption decoder circuitry which appropriately receives, decodes, and displays closed captions from broadcast, cable, videotape, and DVD signals. As soon as practicable, but not later than July 1, 2002, widescreen digital television (DTV) displays measuring at least 7.8 inches vertically, DTV sets with conventional displays measuring at least 13 inches vertically, and stand-alone DTV tuners, whether or not they are marketed with display screens, and computer equipment that includes DTV receiver or display circuitry, shall be equipped with caption decoder circuitry which appropriately receives, decodes, and displays closed captions from broadcast, cable, videotape, and DVD signals. |
Not applicable |
Flash Player 15 does not include any display hardware. |
|
(b) Television tuners, including tuner cards for use in computers, shall be equipped with secondary audio program playback circuitry. |
Not applicable |
Flash Player 15 does not include any television tuner hardware. |
|
(c) All training and informational video and multimedia productions which support the agency's mission, regardless of format, that contain speech or other audio information necessary for the comprehension of the content, shall be open or closed captioned. |
Supports |
Flash Player 15 includes support for decoding and displaying closed caption data embedded in H264 video files for live and non-live captioning of video when used in conjunction with Adobe Primetime. Playback of video without Adobe Primetime supports delivery of caption data but requires that authors develop caption display rendering logic in order to present captions to end users. |
|
(d) All training and informational video and multimedia productions which support the agency's mission, regardless of format, that contain visual information necessary for the comprehension of the content, shall be audio described. |
Supports |
Video and multimedia content displayed in Flash Player 15 can have audio descriptions associated with it. |
|
(e) Display or presentation of alternate text presentation or audio descriptions shall be user-selectable unless permanent. |
Supports |
Alternate text or audio descriptions can be made user selectable. |
Section 1194.31 Functional Performance Criteria - Detail
Criteria |
Supporting features |
Remarks and explanations |
|
(a) At least one mode of operation and information retrieval that does not require user vision shall be provided, or support for Assistive Technology used by people who are blind or visually impaired shall be provided. |
Supports (Windows)
Does Not Support (OSX) |
The Flash Player contains two menus for configuration: Settings and Global Settings. Global Settings is an OS-native dialog and is directly accessible; Settings runs inside the Flash object and is not directly accessible to people using assistive technologies. Global Settings exposes the same functionality as Settings.
Flash Player 15 does not expose user interface information to Assistive Technology through the Accessibility API on OSX. |
|
(b) At least one mode of operation and information retrieval that does not require visual acuity greater than 20/70 shall be provided in audio and enlarged print output working together or independently, or support for Assistive Technology used by people who are visually impaired shall be provided. |
Supports |
|
|
(c) At least one mode of operation and information retrieval that does not require user hearing shall be provided, or support for Assistive Technology used by people who are deaf or hard of hearing shall be provided |
Supports |
|
|
(d) Where audio information is important for the use of a product, at least one mode of operation and information retrieval shall be provided in an enhanced auditory fashion, or support for assistive hearing devices shall be provided. |
Supports |
|
|
(e) At least one mode of operation and information retrieval that does not require user speech shall be provided, or support for Assistive Technology used by people with disabilities shall be provided. |
Supports |
|
|
(f) At least one mode of operation and information retrieval that does not require fine motor control or simultaneous actions and that is operable with limited reach and strength shall be provided. |
Supports |
|
Section 1194.41 Information, Documentation, and Support — Detail
Criteria |
Supporting features |
Remarks and explanations |
|
(a) Product support documentation provided to end-users shall be made available in alternate formats upon request, at no additional charge. |
Supports |
Adobe provides electronic versions of all product support documentation. |
|
(b) End-users shall have access to a description of the accessibility and compatibility features of products in alternate formats or alternate methods upon request, at no additional charge. |
Supports |
Adobe provides information on accessibility features in the documentation. Electronic versions of all product support documentation are provided. |
|
(c) Support services for products shall accommodate the communication needs of end-users with disabilities. |
Supports |
Product support for Adobe products is available in a variety of formats and from a number of online sources available from Adobe. |