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
Peter Anderson

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...

Peter Anderson

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!

Ashley Terwilliger-Pollard

Hi James,

Storyline's Flash based output is 508 Compliant, including support for the following: 

  • JAWS readers
  • Full keyboard navigation
  • Visible focus indicator
  • Authors can add subtitles to videos using the timeline
  • Authors can create a slide transcript using the Notes tab

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!

Brent Berheim

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!

Ashley Terwilliger-Pollard

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.  

Steve Flowers

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:)

Digital Latam

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

Lauren Connelly

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.

Tisha R M

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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