FlashAid

On Internet Explorer running under Windows, FlashAid will inform JavaScript whether the user has a screen reader that is actively communicating with the browser. It achieves this by using a hidden (1 pixel x 1 pixel) Flash application.

See a live demonstration of FlashAid here.

Remember it only works on Internet Explorer. Have your screen reader running before hitting the demo page.

New 2007/02/27: Version 1.0 Released. You can download it here:

FlashAid version 1.0

FlashAid Mailing List: Subscribe and manage your subscription Archives

1. Include the js/flashAid.js script
2. Include the js/swfobject.js script (for embedding the Flash file)
3. Create a <div> with id=“flashAid”. If you want alternative content to display if Flash cannot be loaded, place it into this div.
4. Inside your div, call the flashAid() method and pass in the name (string) of a method that will be called for success and one for failure. The method signature of the flashAid() method is:

flashAid ( successHandler, failureHandler, displayVersionMessage )

Where displayVersionMessageBool is a boolean that determines whether or not a message will be displayed in the flashAid div if the user has the wrong version of the Flash Player. (FlashAid requires Flash Player 8 and above.)

<script type="text/javascript">
  // <![CDATA[
      flashAid("successHandler", "failureHandler", true);
  // ]]>
</script>

The source code for FlashAid is in the OSFlash Subversion repository at http://svn1.cvsdude.com/osflash/flashaid.

Based on an idea by Jeremy Keith, as discussed by Andy, Simon and the rest of the gang at a lovely beach bbq in Brighton. Written by Aral Balkan with accessibility research and testing by Niqui Merret.

(And yes, the title graphic is taking the piss of Web 2.0) :)

Copyright © 2006-2007 Aral Balkan. Released under the open source MIT license.