360 Image, NVDA, and Lightboxes

Sep 14, 2023

Lisa Anderson
By Lisa Anderson

Good afternoon,

I have created a 360 degree image interaction in SL 360 with 6 markers. Each marker has a label and a button inserted in the label. The button jumps to a lightbox that is a graded multiple choice quiz. 

Using a screen reader (NVDA and TAB functionality), when the user returns to the 360 image, after receiving their feedback from quiz 1 to access the 2nd marker, it returns to where they last were; marker 1 - which is good. However, when the user returns to the image after answering question 2, and  TABS to access marker 3 for the 3rd question, it jumps back to the 1st marker. The user then has to tab to marker 2, then to marker 3 to access the 3rd question. This pattern is repeated for every subsequent marker. This forces the screen reader user to open marker 1 - 5 (to hear the progress for each marker) in order to know where marker 6 is. This puts unnecessary actions on the screen reader user and unnecessary extra TABs to experience the activity accessibly. Why does this occur when using a lightbox?

When triggering the button within each marker's label to jump to the question slide (instead of lightbox) it seems to function properly; returning to the correct location of the marker they last visited, in order to TAB to next marker without going through the all the markers.

Is this a bug, or is this functionality intentional?

I've attached a drafted .story file demonstrating this with both lightbox (scene 1) and slide (scene 2).

Along these same lines; what updates are in the making for the 360 images that allow for more triggers within the image to increase functionality similarly to slides. It would be nice to have the "this marker has been visited" so that users with screen readers know where they are at all times in the image.

Thank you and I look forward to guidance and ideas.

Lisa

Pinned Reply
Lauren Connelly
2 months ago02/20/24 at 2:49 pm (UTC)

Hello Lisa!

In Storyline 360 (Build 3.85.31840.0), we fixed a bug that you were running into:

  • Fixed: Closing a lightbox from a 360° image could reset the focus order.

From here, all you need to do is update Storyline 360 in your Articulate 360 desktop app!

If you run into any issues, please don't hesitate to reach out to our Support team in a support case. 

6 Replies
Jose Tansengco
7 months ago09/20/23 at 2:52 pm (UTC)

Hello Lisa,

Thanks for reaching out!

I can confirm that I was able to observe the same behavior on my end. I opened a case on your behalf so we can have our support engineers verify if the behavior is a bug or expected behavior. 

As a workaround, you can try setting the navigation of your 360° image to use 'Guided Tour' instead. I can confirm that using NVDA,  focus box will not reset to the very first marker after returning from one of the test slides. Here's a quick video which shows how using 'Guided Tour' affects the tabbing behavior.

Hope this helps!

Lisa Anderson
7 months ago09/20/23 at 3:13 pm (UTC)

Hi Joe,

Thank you for looking into and confirming my case. I truly appreciate it.

I did consider the guided tour approach. The order of the markers is not dependent on the content being presented and using guided tour minimizes the immersive experience for the majority of our learner population who do not use screen readers or assisted tools. I would hope to see the bug get fixed so that all learners have a similar experience.

Is there an estimated time I might know the status of the case?

Thank you again,

Lisa

Steven Benassi
7 months ago09/21/23 at 4:03 pm (UTC)

Hi Lisa!

Thank you for sharing the feedback!

I took a look at your support case which is being handled by my colleague Ian. It looks like Ian logged this issue as a software bug and replied to your e-mail with some workaround steps you can try.

  • If the guided tour approach doesn't fit your needs, I see that he also suggested using the trigger 'jump to slide' on the light-boxed slide, instead of 'close light-box', to jump back to the slide with the 360 image.

Our development team is actively monitoring this issue and we apologize if it has been slowing you down. We'll be sure to update you as soon as we have news to share!

Lisa Anderson
3 months ago01/23/24 at 11:45 pm (UTC)

Hi Articulate team,

Following up on the status of this bug and an ETA of when it will be fixed. 

In support that our entire employee population has the same interactive experience, regardless of accessibility requirements, turning this into a "forced" path to visit each marker takes the experience away from the immersive intent of a 360 degree image, in my view.

Thanks for looking into this. We do have a large accessible community of practice who are anxiously looking forward to participating in this feature.

Lauren Connelly
2 months ago02/20/24 at 2:49 pm (UTC)

Hello Lisa!

In Storyline 360 (Build 3.85.31840.0), we fixed a bug that you were running into:

  • Fixed: Closing a lightbox from a 360° image could reset the focus order.

From here, all you need to do is update Storyline 360 in your Articulate 360 desktop app!

If you run into any issues, please don't hesitate to reach out to our Support team in a support case. 

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