Macromedia Enables Creation Of Accessible Web Content
Company ships Dreamweaver accessibility extensions,
outlines Macromedia
Flash plans

Macromedia Inc (NASDAQ: MACR) today outlined its commitment to ensuring the
immersive Web experiences created by its market-leading products are
accessible to everyone.  Macromedia is working to help overcome the Web
technology challenges for people with disabilities through community
involvement, software features and documentation, third party support,
promotion of accessibility standards and company awareness.  Macromedia
today delivered free downloadable extensions to its Macromedia Dreamweaver
platform to enable developers to more easily create accessible content.
Information about Macromedia's accessibility program is available at
http://www.macromedia.com/accessibility/
<http://www.macromedia.com/accessibility/ .
"Macromedia is dedicated to providing software that enables our customers
to deliver the fullest potential of the Web," said Kevin Lynch, President
of products for Macromedia. "We will continue to innovate in providing and
promoting accessibility standards across our market-leading Web authoring
solutions to ensure the vision of what the Web can be includes everyone."
Macromedia today announced the availability of free extensions to
Macromedia Dreamweaver and Macromedia Fireworks that make it easier for its
customers to deliver accessible Web content.  The Dreamweaver extension
enables developers to evaluate their Web pages for accessibility based on
the guidelines of the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C).  The extension
performs a test similar to that of Bobby ( http://www.cast.org/bobby/)
<http://www.cast.org/bobby/) , which has become a standard
online benchmark
for accessibility.  The free extensions are immediately
available for
download from the Macromedia Exchange for Dreamweaver
at
http://exchange.macromedia.com
<http://exchange.macromedia.com .

Macromedia also announced plans for a Macromedia Flash Accessibility
Developer Kit and future enhancements to the Macromedia Flash Player,
expected by the end of the year.  The Macromedia Flash Accessibility
Developer Kit will contain guidelines, Smart Clips and sample code to fully
support development efforts.  An upcoming version of the Macromedia Flash
Player will be modified to allow access to underlying data within a
Macromedia Flash (SWF) file, permitting the text within to be interpreted
by assistive devices.  Further, developers can choose to expose their
Macromedia Flash content, making properties such as scale and visibility
controllable by end users.
As part of its accessibility initiative, Macromedia today delivered
extensions that assist developers with accessible design. Two new commands
for Fireworks confirm that ALT Tags (which describe the information
contained in images) are being used, and that complex sliced image maps are
properly tagged for readers with disabilities and reading software.
About Macromedia
Macromedia is passionate about what the Web can be.  Its award-winning
products empower developers to provide the most engaging experiences on the
Web and enable more effective e-business.  Headquartered in San Francisco,
Macromedia (NASDAQ: MACR) has more than 1,200 employees worldwide and is
available on the Internet at www.macromedia.com/uk
<http://www.macromedia.com/uk .
Macromedia is a member of the Business Software Alliance (BSA)
· ENDS-


For Further Information Please Contact:
Sarah Mowatt
Macromedia Europe
Tel: 01344 458600
Fax: 01344 458666
Email: [log in to unmask]
<mailto:[log in to unmask]

Or
Nigel Cayless/Caro Bamforth/Julie Elliott
Stewart-Muir Communications
Tel: 020 8943 2111
Fax: 020 8943 2888
Email: [log in to unmask]
<mailto:[log in to unmask]


25th October 2000