Creating Accessible Solutions
Epic Launch Flash Create

Donna Smillie, Royal National Institute of the Blind (RNIB)

For over six years the Royal National Institute of the Blind (RNIB) has campaigned to raise awareness about more accessible web design, and provides consultancy and advice on this issue. Epic prides itself in setting the industry standard for accessibility in
e-learning, and we were delighted to invite Donna Smillie, Senior Web Accessibility Consultant for the RNIB to test Epic’s latest initiative, Flash Create.

Flash Create has taken several months to develop, and provides what we believe to be the best of breed in accessible Flash solutions. But don’t take our word for it. Donna tested Flash Create to see just how accessible it is for users with disabilities; visual, aural, motor, and learning disabilities were all factors considered in Donna’s review.

"While I did identify some issues that needed to be addressed (I would have been extremely surprised if there had been none!), I was impressed by the thought and, in places, ingenuity, that had gone into the underlying structure and design of both the Flash and non-Flash material. Before I visited Epic's Brighton office to review the software, I was concerned that all of their effort regarding accessibility might have gone into the non-Flash version, but that wasn't the case at all."

"It's very encouraging to see an organisation taking a proactive approach to accessibility. Most organisations look to tick the boxes of the legislation and do the minimum. Epic is interested in creating e-learning that is really usable for people with disabilities, considering how they will use the programmes in the most intuitive way.

I thoroughly enjoyed the day... John [John Castle, one of Epic's developers] really knows his stuff, and the interest and enthusiasm shown by everyone I met made me feel very welcome"

René Soltermann, Programming Manager, says, “Achieving accessibility that meets industry standards and guidelines in Flash is a technical challenge. The entire production team at Epic have worked collaboratively to deliver a solution that is at the cutting edge of Flash accessibility and a fantastic base to build on.”

Katherine Laux, Head of Design, says, “We set out to make our e-learning accessible to all users. We aimed to reach out to the broadest possible user base, and this confirms we have.”

For more information on Flash create email us on marketing@epic.co.uk

RNIB website