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Opaque Applets

One of the tools that programmers can use to extend the function of their website and the internet is the Java Applet. It's called an "applet" because it's a "small program" - a miniature application - that serves a specific need or does a particular job. The issue with these applications is that they are inherently opaque to screen readers (e.g. the screen reader software cannot "see" into the applet in order to provide information to the user).

In March, 2000, Sun Microsystems released the "Swing" class library of Java programming objects. Using these objects, programmers can compile applets that are able to communicate properly with screen readers. There are some limits - interactivity is still not interpreted properly and the tool doesn't support descriptive analysis of the applet's animation. But for text elements, this provides some significant level of accessibility.