Forum Discussion
NVDA Use
Thank you! I will definitely look into the NVDA shortcuts and watch the webinar.
Am I doing all of the right things in Storyline?
- -Setting the focus order on every slide
- -Removing all decorative or unnecessary elements from the focus order
- -Adding "set focus" triggers to any slide with layers (targeted at the first item in the focus order for each layer)
Should I add "set focus" triggers to every slide as well?
Yes, I think you are on the right track.
With layers, you don't always need to set the focus trigger. It depends on the layer properties. If the layer is exclusive (prevent user from accessing Base), you generally don't need to set a focus trigger.
If the layer is not exclusive (user can still interact with the Base), you only need to set a focus trigger in circumstances where the defined focus order of the layer deviates from the natural reading order, or, there are other elements on the layer you need to by-pass and set focus to a specific element on that layer.Try where you can, with non-exclusive layers, to position them in the focus order so that the natural reading order will handle it. For example, I select a button, that reveals further text in a layer, I would just make sure that layer is directly after the button in the focus order.
For exclusive layers, you just need to ensure the focus order is correct in the layer.
And no to focus triggers on every every slide. Not necessary. This should only be reserved for when sending focus to an element that is not in the natural reading order.
One of the key things is make sure you have a consistent heading on slides and ensure that heading appears after any repeated content (course title or any links at the top of the slide). It provides a good shortcut for assistive tech users (H key) to jump straight to the first heading in the content and start reading the main content (skipping any content that may be repeated on all slides).Oh! I haven't really been using heading or text styles, so that might be causing confusion. (I was taught to use as few text boxes as possible.) I can go back and implement text styles, but what if I use a lot of shapes as "text boxes" Should I keep the text style and just place it in the shape separately? Or can I keep typing the text in the shape itself?
Text styles are one of the most important ways to provide key information to screen readers. For example, a large bold piece of text intended to be a heading will not be identified as a heading unless it uses one of the H1-H5 styles. It wouldn't be able to communicate structure to a blind person, or provide a shortcut to an assistive tech user. The same applies to bullet lists, blockquotes. Use the text styles provided.
There is absolutely no problem in using shapes for text. Just ensure the text is styled appropriately (semantically) for assistive text. I use shapes all the time as text boxes, for example using rounded corners. You can use multiple styles of text in a single shape. I frequently have shapes with headings, paragraphs, bullet lists etc inside a single shape.
