Forum Discussion

MicheleBuddie's avatar
MicheleBuddie
Community Member
6 days ago

Storyline: Freeform radio group labels affected by timeline order and focus order

I think the behavior I describe below is a bug, but please let me know if this is intentional. 

Background Information

Storyline now automatically publishes a group label for radio button sets. JAWS will read "group start ___" and "group end ___" around each radio button set. NVDA reads it once at the beginning of the radio button set, I believe. I think this behavior was updated in v3.111 (Feb 21 2026) since I can take a slide between v3.110 and v3.111 without doing anything to it and it won't add the group labels on publish to my slide in v3.110.

I believe the reason this feature was added was to address WCAG 1.3.1 guidelines surrounding group labels for form field sets. (Rise already has group labels automatically added.) However, I don't see any mention of it in the Storyline 360 version history.

Situation - potential bug

For freeform questions, the "___" portion of the announcement (the group label name) depends on two things:

  1. Which textboxes are below the answer options in the timeline (this includes textboxes on the master slides - they are treated as "below" the answer options)
  2. Of those textboxes, which one comes first in the focus order (a textbox has to be in the focus order to be used for the group label)

Storyline will use whichever textbox is below the answer options and first in the focus order as the group label.

The layer position of the textbox in the timeline shouldn't have any effect on the group label, correct?

Is there someplace we can actually set the group label without having to use the above mentioned rules as workarounds to get it to say specific things for the group label?

Here's a Review 360 slide, and storyline file attached.

group-labels | Review 360

1 Reply

  • LeslieMcKerchie's avatar
    LeslieMcKerchie
    Staff
    3 days ago

    Hi MicheleBuddie​ 

    Thanks so much for taking the time to document this so thoroughly and for sharing your example. 

    You’re absolutely right in what you’re seeing. The current behavior ties the group label to objects on the timeline and focus order, which can make the announced label feel unpredictable and difficult to control.

    We’re aware of this and have already made improvements. I tested your course, and that improvement does correct the issue you’re reporting. The update is currently in QA and is expected to be included in the next Storyline 360 release.

    We really appreciate you calling this out. It’s exactly the kind of detail that helps us improve the experience.