Any updates on Accessibility and Section 508 Compliance?

Hi Dan & welcome to Heroes,

There are certain things you can do to make your published output meet 508 compliance. For example: 

1) Ensure that keyboard shortcuts are activated: 

http://www.articulate.com/support/presenter09/?p=31 

2) Use presenter notes or a script to launch in a new window 

. 

http://www.articulate.com/blog/script-as-html/

http://www.articulate.com/blog/escriptionistcom/

3) Our software meet certain parts of Section 508 compliance: 

Presenter '09: 

http://www.articulate.com/support/presenter09/kb/?p=162 

Quizmaker '09: 

http://www.articulate.com/support/quizmaker09/kb/?p=57 

Engage '09: 

http://www.articulate.com/support/engage09/kb/?p=59 

...but are not JAWS reader compatible. 

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You can also create alternate versions of your content that is accessible by following the methods described in this blog article: 

http://www.articulate.com/blog/heres-how-to-achieve-rapid-section-508-compliance/ 

Note: This article provides guidance on how to create a Section 508 compliant course. However, full compliance of Section 508 will vary by organization. Thus, additional steps beyond what this article provides may be necessary (e.g., accounting for video captioning, interactive scenarios, etc.).

If you'd like to see better support for accessibility in the future, please submit a feature request to us by using the link below:

http://www.articulate.com/support/contact/feature/

Short answer - Not JAWS reader compatible for even basic navigation such as next page. 

RE: If you'd like to see better support for accessibility in the future, please submit a feature request

 Pretty disappointing that Presenter wasn’t made screen reader compatible in 2009. I, like others, will continue to elect to use other products like Adobe Presenter, Captivate, and Flash.  I was under the impression, based on the Articulate VPAT that navigation would be possible.

RE: (c) A well-defined on-screen indication of the current focus shall be provided that moves among interactive interface elements as the input focus changes. The focus shall be programmatically exposed so that Assistive Technology can track focus and focus changes.

Articulate statement: Supports with Exceptions (e.g. basic navigation)

I wish I had the answer. We are working now to try and make Adobe Presenter 508 compliant and it doesn't work.  The most difficult is you try and create your eLearning course with hyperlinks, animation, etc....but they say to use very little of this for visually impaired. We have put alt-text, etc. and when we publish to pdf (that is how our customer wants it)...we lose all of that.

If anyone knows how to make Adobe Presenter 508 compliant...I would so grateful.

Brian, the link referencing launching presenter notes isn't working.  Could you re-post?  I am actually having the opposite problem... I created notes to launch with a course a few months ago.  I've now created a new course and am using the same template.  For some reason the notes from the last course are launching with the new course.  I can't remember how to disable it.

Thanks!

I for one would love to know if Storyline (Articulate's upcoming new authoring tool), will address these issues.

Sorry about that.  I updated the links in my original response.  Let me know if they don't work for you.

Can anyone answer Mike B's question?

Added functionality for Section 508 compliance was requested to be part of Studio 2009 version, but that didn't happen.. It would be nice if the next version or tool could be used for government projects without making an alternate version of the entire course.

Hi Dan,

We typically don't announce features in future products. We are aware that folks would like to see deeper 508 compliance. If you would like to share your desire for this, please submit a feature request:

http://www.articulate.com/support/contact/feature/

RE: We typically don't announce features in future products.

There were numerious requests for basic accessibility and Section 508 compliance prior to the last release (Studio 09).  I think a lot of us assumed that we didn't need to submit a feature request for things that had been already requested (and are considered basic requirements for many projects). If basic accessibility is not an already planned feature in the future product, then I will submit a request. But I was hoping that you would have been able to say although you missed the target for accessibility with Presenter 09 (after multiple requests and discussions), that you guys were all over it for the next release.

Hey Dan,

The player didn't change much between 5 and '09 which is why this is not something that was addressed. If you had a chance to look at Storyline, you would see that we have a brand new player that was built from the ground up so I wouldn't look at the past as any indication of what we have planned in the future.

co-signed.

i'm sorry that i missed this conversation.

have the betas started yet, or are you referring to the conference tour sightings?

Hey Craig. Beta hasn't started yet. We're still trying to see if we can break Storyline internally.

I have an acquisition in process for Articulate Studio (15 copies) for a Federal agency and am now thinking that maybe I should stop the acquisition and consider another venue, if we're not going to have JAWS compatible 508 courses any time in the future.  As much as I like the product, if I can't make it work with the universally acceptable assistive software, it's just going to be an expensive item on the shelf.

I have huge concerns about basic accessibility, namely that everything that is text can be read by a screenreader and that images and navigation can be given labels of some sort.  

So, basically, what I'm hearing is that Articulate cannot be read by any of the screen readers out there?

Is this still true?

cynthia

Hi Cynthia,

There are no updates to share at this time, but have you had a chance to read our article on achieving 508 compliance?:

http://www.articulate.com/blog/heres-how-to-achieve-rapid-section-508-compliance/

Hope that's helpful!

Is there a way to covert Quizmaker to HTML?   I read this article but it not clear how to run the html from the quiz or player files.

You can also create alternate versions of your content that is accessible by following the methods described in this blog article: 

http://www.articulate.com/blog/heres-how-to-achieve-rapid-section-508-compliance/