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USING ADOBE CAPTIVATE 5
Advanced Editing and Project Reviews
Last updated 4/22/2010
Worldwide accessibility standards
Many countries, including the United States, Australia, Canada, Japan, and countries in the European Union, have
adopted accessibility standards based on those developed by the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C). W3C
publishes the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines, a document that prioritizes actions designers should take to make
web content accessible. For information about the Web Accessibility Initiative, see the W3C website at
www.w3.org/WAI.
In the United States, the law that governs accessibility is commonly known as Section 508, which is an amendment to
the U.S. Rehabilitation Act. Section 508 prohibits federal agencies from buying, developing, maintaining, or using
electronic technology that is not accessible to those with disabilities. In addition to mandating standards, Section 508
allows government employees and the public to sue agencies in federal court for noncompliance.
For additional information about Section 508, see the following websites:
What is Section 508- compliance?
Section 508 is part of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 requiring that federal agencies develop, maintain, acquire, or use
electronic and information technology to make the systems accessible to people with disabilities. The most recent
(1998) version of Section 508 establishes enforceable, government-wide standards.
What does accessible mean?
In general, an information technology system is accessible for people with disabilities if it can be used in various ways
that do not depend on a single sense or ability. For example, users should be able to navigate with a keyboard, in
addition to a mouse (not with a mouse only). Also, the visual and auditory elements of a user interface must
accommodate both hearing-impaired and visually impaired users.
What other types of assistive software do end users need?
Screen readers or text-to-speech utilities (which read the contents of the active window, menu options, or text you have
typed) and screen review aids translate onscreen text to speech or to a dynamic, refreshable, Braille display. This
assistive technology can provide keyboard assistance or shortcuts, captions for speech and sound, and visual warnings
such as flashing toolbars. Tools available include Windows Eye and JAWS.
What does Adobe Captivate do to be Section 508 compliant?
Selecting the 508 Compliance option makes certain elements in Adobe Captivate projects accessible or open to
accessibility technology. For example, if you select the 508 Compliance and you have filled in the project name and
project description text boxes in Project preferences, a screen reader will read the name and description when the
Adobe Captivate SWF file is played.
The following Adobe Captivate elements are accessible when the 508 Compliance option is selected:
• Project name (derived from Project Properties)
• Project description (derived from Project Properties)
• Slide accessibility text
• Slide label (derived from Slide Properties)
• Buttons
• Playback controls (The function of each button is read by screen readers)
• Password protection (If an Adobe Captivate SWF file is password protected, the prompt for a password is read by
screen readers)
• Question slides (Title, question, answers, button text, and scoring report are read by screen readers)
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