508 Compliance Questions

Jul 30, 2012

Maggie Cowan
By Maggie Cowan

The 508 compliance features in Storyline are a vast improvement from Presenter.  However, there are still some major sticking points that would prevent me from being able to use this software to produce 508 compliance material.

  • Keyboard Controls:  Is there a way to indicate which keys we'd like to use?  For example, it would be great if the forward and back arrows keys corresponded to the Back/Next buttons.
  • Skip Navigation:  The Storyline VPAT states that the author has full control over the navigation, including allowing the screen reader to skip the navigation tab.  Currently, when I publish, the screen reader reads the navigation menu on every screen.  How do I provide a skip option to my users?
  • Next Button:  If the screen reader is in the process of reading a screen and the user hits the Next button, the screen reader stops reading.  To a blind person, this means there is no more content on the page.  Is there anything we can do about this?
  • Forms:  Is there a way to associate a label with an input field?  Specifically, when a user is prompted to enter a name prior to printing quiz results.  Can we add alt text to the Name input field?

Any help would be greatly appreciated!

3 Replies
Diane Elkins
over 11 years ago07/30/12 at 1:05 pm (UTC)

Hello, Maggie,

Here are my thoughts.

1. You should be able to assign an action trigger to each page (or the master slide) with the keyboard shortcuts you want.  Use the action Jump to Slide when User presses a key. 

2. Right now, there is no skip navigation option.  So in my opinion, the only way to be truly 508-compliant is to not include the navigation tab.

3. I'm not sure I understand.  I would think if the student hits the Next button, you would want the screen reader to stop and have the course go to the next slide. 

4. Most form elements allow you to add a label.  However, the name field for the print results feature is system generated, so I don't believe you can have a formal label.  However, the text before the field does give the directions--some might argue that's enough.

Also, be sure to submit any feature requests you want.  I know the Articulate team is actively working on Storyline's accessibility.

Maggie Cowan
over 11 years ago08/03/12 at 6:30 am (UTC)

I was able to add triggers to the Master Slides (pressing Right Arrow navigates to next slide, pressing Left Arrow navigates to previous slide). 

  • The Left Arrow trigger works fine.  From anywhere in the CBT I can press the left arrow and move to the previous slide.
  • The Right Arrow trigger only works within a scene.  Once I get to the end of a scene, if I press the Right Arrow key nothing happens.

Any ideas?

Dave Fulle
over 11 years ago08/03/12 at 8:18 am (UTC)

Hi Maggie,

Is the last slide of each scene setup to advance to the next scene and not "next slide"? You need a trigger to do this as it isn't automatically done. Although a trigger may be present telling the course to go to the next slide, if you don't have a specific trigger setup to go to the next scene, it acts like there is nothing left to go to. Here's an example:

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