Accessibility Standards
Oct 25, 2012
Hi
I notice you have a table showing the optimisation in Storyline against Section 508 - which is great: http://www.articulate.com/products/storyline-section-508.php
I am wondering if you have done a similar process against Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.0?
In New Zealand and Australia we are getting an increasing number of requests to use authoring tools to build elearning, however their expectation is that it is complies with the standards above. Has anyone done a comparison or is anyone planning to do this???
Thank you
28 Replies
Hey Nikki,
Thanks for asking. WCAG is more complicated than 508.
However, most of the additional elements are requirements of the course author, not the output. Without having walked through the requirements completely to see if there's anything that can't be done, the short answer is: We don't officially support WCAG, but you may be able to fulfill the requirements of WCAG by using Section 508 as a guideline and filling in the gaps.
Hope that helps...
Thanks Peter.
Would you know if there are additional resources available that help developers fill in those gaps? My team is about to begin work on a project expected to be either WCAG AA or AAA conformant and would like to use Storyline but is afraid filling the gaps might end up being time consuming.
Hi Peter
WCAG is a major concern to the Australian adult education market as all government web sites are required to be compliant and departments are extending that to online learning.
Is it even on Articulate's radar to provide us with some concrete information? For some people, this could be a deal-breaker.
Thanks
KerryJ
Hi Kerry,
We haven't announced any formal plans to fully support WCAG in the near future. At this point, a feature request for full WCAG support would be the next step in the right direction.
Thanks for filling us in on the compliance needs, and please feel free to include that information if you send in a feature request.
Thanks, Kerry!
I have sent a feature request ...... the more requests they receive the more likely this is.
Thanks Kirsty!
Great idea, Kirsty. I don't believe I've requested this yet, and I think it's very important. ... going ahead and doing so now (apologies to Articulate if it's a duplicate).
Can I check something here about accessibility. It was my understanding that all Flash-authored content does not conform to any accessibility standards.
Are the accessibility considerations being discussed here only relating to Storyline's HTML5 output, or have I completely misunderstood all these years?
Hi James,
Storyline's Flash based output is 508 Compliant, including support for the following:
Whereas, content published for HTML5 and the Articulate Mobile Player is not 508 compliant.
You can find more information on Storyline's VPAT here.
Hope that helps clear up any of the confusion, but if not please let us know!
Thank you, Ashley. That's very useful. I have always worked on the basis that Flash wasn't accessible and a separate version of a course would have to be created.
I'll (quite clearly!) need to look into this a lot further!
Many thanks for you help.
Happy to help James, and glad that it worked for you! If you need anything else, please don't hesitate to ask!
Ashley,
GREAT news today with Studio13 FINALLY coming out.
Do you have a similar resource on 508 for Studio13 similar to the link above?
http://www.articulate.com/products/storyline-section-508-vpat.php
Thanks!
Good Afternoon James, and welcome to Heroes!
We're working to make Articulate Studio '13 Section 508 compliant. It'll be available in a free software update. We can't give timelines, but we'll release it as soon as we can.
Justin,
Do you have a chart for Studio13 similar to the one for Storyline (linked to in my previous post)? I would like to know where you are today.
Hi James,
As Justin mentioned, we can't give timelines on this, so I don't have anything indicating what we've worked on to date in terms of accessibility. Once we have information available, we'll be sure to share it with the community here.
Hi everyone,
With the release of Update 2, Studio '13 is now 508 compliant.
I would like to revive this thread, if possible. As Kerry from Australia mentioned, WCAG 2 is also a concern for my company, and consequently now for me as well, since I create much of my work in Storyline. When I shared Storyline's VPAT with our Accessibility area, I was told that what Ashley mentioned in her previous post was inaccurate. If a piece is flash-based, it does NOT meet 508 compliance at all.
So - I am confused. Has flash changed since you wrote the documentation stating that Flash content is 508 compliant? Or are my people incorrect. I know my people test JAWS compatibility as well as full keyboard navigation. And, as I mentioned before - they state that if the output is flash-based, then it is not accessible.
Help!
Hi Brent,
Did you accessibility area say it needed to be a different publishing type or basis?
I'm not an expert on 508 compliance, but know that our team researched the areas of Storyline and where they fit in terms of creating 508 compliant courses - but I think stating any flash based content, as a whole is not 508 compliant...seems like broad strokes. You can see the new documentation here for Storyline 2 which was released earlier this fall.
Making a flash based course accessible is really dependent on the elements the course author includes, adhering to the general best practices outlined for the authoring environment, etc.
Hey Brent -
I responded to one of your earlier posts. Flash can be made accessible both from a keyboard and screen reader standpoint. There is a common misconception that Flash cannot be made accessible. This is untrue.
https://community.articulate.com/discussions/articulate-storyline/section-508?page=3#reply-217110
WCAG 2.0 is a little different story as this covers structured HTML documents and isn't necessarily intended for embedded interactive media like Flash, Unity, etc.. There are some elements of WCAG 2.0 that will be difficult / impossible in a Flash-based output. This doesn't mean you can't make things accessible. Compliance and accessibility / usability aren't always the same thing:)
Good morning Steve, Ashley, Brent, Peter, Justin, Leslie.
We have a requested e-learning as a tutorial for a webprogram. There will be 10 lessons; each lesson only consists of two slides: A “videopage”, in which the lesson is explained as a video tutorial, and an exercise page, in which the content understanding will be checked.
The e-learning needs to be accessible in accordance with the current WCAG, or the German standard of BITV 2.0.This includes the following users:
1)The blind
2)People having difficulty seeing
3)People who are sensitive to light
4)Motorically challenged people
5)The hard of hearing Therefore, the screenreader-compability is a must as well as compability with assisting browser plug-ins (such as changing the background colours).
The final version needs to be delivered in HTML.
Do you have templates and support for it? We are a bit lost with. Thank you very much and nice weekend :)
Digital Latam Team
Hi Digital Latam!
We haven't released any templates for building accessible courses, but we have content that walks you through creating accessible courses.
Understanding WCAG: A Quickstart Guide for E-Learning Developers
Our Top Section 508 Compliance Resources for E-Learning
What Is 508 Compliance for E-Learning and How Can You Achieve It?
What You Need to Know About Designing Accessible E-Learning with Storyline 360
I love the idea of building accessibility templates to make this process easier! If I hear of any updates, I'll report back to this discussion.
Thank you Lauren, that help us!
And working with the course we found a concrete problem where I don't find solution jet.
The user has to be able to change the size of the letter. What kind of solutions Articulate offer right now?
Hi Digital Latam!
I saw this course that one of our community members built for magnifying the font! I think it would be useful since you are looking for ways to enlarge the font.
Hi All,
Informative thread. One thing that is not clear to me is if there is a built-in accessibility checker in Storyline 360. I know some other programs have this but it does not seem apparent to me in Storyline. I suppose that I can default to the use of WAVE and other accessibility checkers along with implementing accessible design upfront as a best practice but having a checker built-in would be so ideal. As you publish your work having a setting that you check off for accessibility compliance could be helpful to make sure nothing is missed.
Any guidance is appreciated.
Thank you!
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