Started experiencing some issues today with how my screenreader was handling text frames. Don't recall encountering them previously, so I'm curious if anyone else has..?
In IE, it reads them as "grouping".
In Chrome, it adds "section" to the end of all.
In FF, there's a long delay before it reads text (no delay when reading objects' alt text), and then it adds "section" to the end of all.
I haven't seen this reported before, so I'd like to get some more details from you. What version of Storyline are you using? Can you tell me more about what you mean by text frames?
If you have a sample slide you can share here, that would be helpful, too!
By text frames I meant text boxes, so any slide title or content box that is part of a slide template, or any text box you add through Insert > Text Box. I'm also encountering this with shapes that have text in them.
In Chrome, HTML5, my screenreader is also reading "application" and the course title at the start of every slide, which isn't something I recall encountering with Storyline 2 or Flash outputs.
What screen reader are you using? Storyline 3 HTML5 output is compatible with JAWS 16 or later with Internet Explorer 10 or later, Google Chrome (latest version), Firefox (latest version).
I tested in each of those browsers, and didn't hear the words "section" or "grouping" there. Let me know if you're still hearing the problem using JAWS 16 in those browsers, and we'll keep digging!
I'm using NVDA. I work closely with a lot of JAWS users & testers and am
yet to encounter a difference with how the two screenreaders treat
Storyline outputs. Maybe this is a first... I'll be forwarding these
samples along to some of our other University of California testers to see
what they experience.
Yep, just downloaded a JAWS 16 trial, and the experience with that reader
is consistent with both my expectations and Articulate's.
Thankfully many of the screen reader users in my organization (University
of California) are JAWS users, but we also have a pretty large NVDA user
group (since NVDA's price tag, or lack thereof ;) , is a little more suited
to students' budgets than JAWS's). This is the first time my JAWS and NVDA
experiences differ with an Articulate product (was not an issue with
Storyline 2's Flash output), so while I appreciate and applaud Articulate's
efforts to produce an accessible product, I really hope the development
team can expand the screen reader compatibility functionality and have NVDA
be a viable reader again.
Hi all, I see this is an old thread, but I want to clarify something. I am having the exact issue Douglas brought forward (I'm using Storyline 360). I guess I'm curious why this is still an issue. Does Articulate have any intent to fix this? If not, I'm curious why. It has created an unnecessary burden on me as a developer as I've literally spent an entire week finding work-arounds for screen reader issues because of the way Storyline is designed. This has been mostly around quiz slides and text boxes that read as "grouping."
I really love Storyline, but I've had lots of accessibility issues since I started using it. I work for the government, which requires all courses to be 508 compliant. JAWS is expensive, so I'm unable to acquire it. I'm guessing there are other users who can't afford JAWS and may be in this same situation.
Just wanted to see where Articulate is at with this and if there are any fixes available. Thank you.
Hello, Kelly. I replied to your post here, so we can also continue the conversation there if you'd like!
Just want to add here that we appreciate the valuable context you shared. We're hard at work on accessibility improvements so do keep an eye out! I've also documented your request for more screen reader support like NVDA, so we can keep you updated on any new developments on this front.
Thanks for sharing this information. It would also mean a lot to us for Storyline to be compatible with NVDA for cost reasons. I work for the government as well and are facing huge ongoing budget cuts and have to legally provide accessible content. Our accessibility lead is encouraging us to go to other software but that would be a real shame if you are so close to becoming WCAG compliant. Our whole team were hired based on their Storyline experience and to change authoring software now would mean a costly and time consuming process having to start from scratch again.
One of the other bugs that would be really helpful to fix is the alt text not working if a state has been applied to a custom button. It has meant a huge amount of work to fix this issue in our current courses.
Thanks for your ongoing work with all the improvements
I'm excited to share that we just released Update 34 for Storyline 360. It addresses the issue where JAWS did not read the alt text from Tab Order for objects with multiple states.
We are working on accessibility enhancements for Storyline 3 as well. While our process for developing Storyline 3 updates is different than it is for Storyline 360, we promise to keep you up-to-date on new information as soon as it's ready!
Hello, I also can't read text boxes with NVDA screen reader, which is really a problem as I work mostly on accessible products. Any way to fix that ? All softwares I know work with NVDA, but not Articulate Storyline, which is really sad.
Hello, I also can't read text boxes with NVDA screen reader, which is really a problem as I work mostly on accessible products. Any way to fix that ? All softwares I know work with NVDA, but not Articulate Storyline, which is really sad.
I am getting the same issue since updating to the new version - with zoomable modern player.
Our team is looking into a problem where text and images are not read instantly when using NVDA. JAWS is unaffected, and this behavior isn't present before Storyline 360, Update 37.
As we continue to investigate, we're happy to verify whether that bug is affecting your course or if something else is causing the issue.
I'm also having issues - none of my text boxes are being read nor can even be tabbed to, it just skips past them and goes to any button on the screen. NVDA - most recent update, and Storyline is version 3.39.22088.0 (haven't done the latest update but it seems maybe that won't help?)
For those who are using Storyline 3, I'm excited to announce that we've released Update 10 today!
This update comes packed with accessibility enhancements! We've released the fix for an issue where alt text in object states wasn't announced by screen readers. You can download the latest version of Storyline 3 here.
Yes, these features are available in Storyline 360! We released this bug in Update 37 (Build 3.37.21453.0) and we are now on Update 41 (Build 3.41.22450.0).
You can see our release notes for Storyline 360 here.
Lauren, I currently have the new Storyline 3 build (3.10.22406.0) and none of my text boxes on any of the slides are being read. This is occurring when not using and when using a screen reader (NVDA) in preview or published in SCORM Cloud. I did not have this issue with the previous build. Attached is a short .story file (without a video) to review. I appreciate any help that you or others can provide. Thank you.
Happy to help out here! As Lauren mentioned, there's been some significant enhancements made to accessibility, and I'd like to start by sharing some resources that will help you hit the ground running.
This first article references Storyline 360, but applies to Storyline 3 Update 10 and covers how things were before and after the changes and why:
These next articles go into detail and help explain why you're text boxes aren't being read. Tabbing through will only access interactive elements, whereas the directional arrows help you access all slide elements. Please note that there are key differences between when a screen reader is on, and when you just need keyboard accessibility.
30 Replies
Hi Douglas,
I haven't seen this reported before, so I'd like to get some more details from you. What version of Storyline are you using? Can you tell me more about what you mean by text frames?
If you have a sample slide you can share here, that would be helpful, too!
Hi Alyssa,
I'm using Storyline 3, Update 2.
By text frames I meant text boxes, so any slide title or content box that is part of a slide template, or any text box you add through Insert > Text Box. I'm also encountering this with shapes that have text in them.
In Chrome, HTML5, my screenreader is also reading "application" and the course title at the start of every slide, which isn't something I recall encountering with Storyline 2 or Flash outputs.
Sample slide and published zip attached.
Thanks
Thanks for those details, Douglas.
What screen reader are you using? Storyline 3 HTML5 output is compatible with JAWS 16 or later with Internet Explorer 10 or later, Google Chrome (latest version), Firefox (latest version).
I tested in each of those browsers, and didn't hear the words "section" or "grouping" there. Let me know if you're still hearing the problem using JAWS 16 in those browsers, and we'll keep digging!
Hi Alyssa,
I'm using NVDA. I work closely with a lot of JAWS users & testers and am
yet to encounter a difference with how the two screenreaders treat
Storyline outputs. Maybe this is a first... I'll be forwarding these
samples along to some of our other University of California testers to see
what they experience.
Thanks!
Doug
Ah, that would explain it. Storyline 3 works with Jaws 16 according to our system requirements here.
Hi Alyssa,
Yep, just downloaded a JAWS 16 trial, and the experience with that reader
is consistent with both my expectations and Articulate's.
Thankfully many of the screen reader users in my organization (University
of California) are JAWS users, but we also have a pretty large NVDA user
group (since NVDA's price tag, or lack thereof ;) , is a little more suited
to students' budgets than JAWS's). This is the first time my JAWS and NVDA
experiences differ with an Articulate product (was not an issue with
Storyline 2's Flash output), so while I appreciate and applaud Articulate's
efforts to produce an accessible product, I really hope the development
team can expand the screen reader compatibility functionality and have NVDA
be a viable reader again.
Thanks!
Doug
I can definitely share that feedback with my team, Douglas. Thank you!
Hi all, I see this is an old thread, but I want to clarify something. I am having the exact issue Douglas brought forward (I'm using Storyline 360). I guess I'm curious why this is still an issue. Does Articulate have any intent to fix this? If not, I'm curious why. It has created an unnecessary burden on me as a developer as I've literally spent an entire week finding work-arounds for screen reader issues because of the way Storyline is designed. This has been mostly around quiz slides and text boxes that read as "grouping."
I really love Storyline, but I've had lots of accessibility issues since I started using it. I work for the government, which requires all courses to be 508 compliant. JAWS is expensive, so I'm unable to acquire it. I'm guessing there are other users who can't afford JAWS and may be in this same situation.
Just wanted to see where Articulate is at with this and if there are any fixes available. Thank you.
Hello, Kelly. I replied to your post here, so we can also continue the conversation there if you'd like!
Just want to add here that we appreciate the valuable context you shared. We're hard at work on accessibility improvements so do keep an eye out! I've also documented your request for more screen reader support like NVDA, so we can keep you updated on any new developments on this front.
Thank you for being so dedicated! 😊
Hi Katie,
Thanks for sharing this information. It would also mean a lot to us for Storyline to be compatible with NVDA for cost reasons. I work for the government as well and are facing huge ongoing budget cuts and have to legally provide accessible content. Our accessibility lead is encouraging us to go to other software but that would be a real shame if you are so close to becoming WCAG compliant. Our whole team were hired based on their Storyline experience and to change authoring software now would mean a costly and time consuming process having to start from scratch again.
One of the other bugs that would be really helpful to fix is the alt text not working if a state has been applied to a custom button. It has meant a huge amount of work to fix this issue in our current courses.
Thanks for your ongoing work with all the improvements
Thanks for popping in to share your thoughts and use-case, Sasha.
I've shared them with our team as well.
Hello there!
I'm excited to share that we just released Update 34 for Storyline 360. It addresses the issue where JAWS did not read the alt text from Tab Order for objects with multiple states.
To see all the enhancements this version has to offer, follow these steps to update your software!
Is there any plan to make this update, or any of the other recent accessibility updates for 360, available in Storyline 3?
Hello there, Sally!
We are working on accessibility enhancements for Storyline 3 as well. While our process for developing Storyline 3 updates is different than it is for Storyline 360, we promise to keep you up-to-date on new information as soon as it's ready!
Hello, I also can't read text boxes with NVDA screen reader, which is really a problem as I work mostly on accessible products. Any way to fix that ? All softwares I know work with NVDA, but not Articulate Storyline, which is really sad.
Thanks for contacting us to share, Benjamin.
Do you know what version of Storyline 360 you're using?
You can check by going to:
Help > About Articulate Storyline
We are currently on Build 3.40.22208.0 of Storyline 360. You can read all of the details here.
I am getting the same issue since updating to the new version - with zoomable modern player.
Hi there, instructional design team!
Our team is looking into a problem where text and images are not read instantly when using NVDA. JAWS is unaffected, and this behavior isn't present before Storyline 360, Update 37.
As we continue to investigate, we're happy to verify whether that bug is affecting your course or if something else is causing the issue.
I'm sorry you're facing this, but hopefully we can offer some help!
I'm also having issues - none of my text boxes are being read nor can even be tabbed to, it just skips past them and goes to any button on the screen. NVDA - most recent update, and Storyline is version 3.39.22088.0 (haven't done the latest update but it seems maybe that won't help?)
We have also had this experience with the latest version of Storyline output. Only recently realised so not sure when it started
For those who are using Storyline 3, I'm excited to announce that we've released Update 10 today!
This update comes packed with accessibility enhancements! We've released the fix for an issue where alt text in object states wasn't announced by screen readers. You can download the latest version of Storyline 3 here.
Here's a list of what else is included in Storyline 3 (Build 3.10.22406.0)!
Hi Lauren, that is great news.
When will this update be available for Articulate 360?
Hi Mark!
Yes, these features are available in Storyline 360! We released this bug in Update 37 (Build 3.37.21453.0) and we are now on Update 41 (Build 3.41.22450.0).
You can see our release notes for Storyline 360 here.
Lauren, I currently have the new Storyline 3 build (3.10.22406.0) and none of my text boxes on any of the slides are being read. This is occurring when not using and when using a screen reader (NVDA) in preview or published in SCORM Cloud. I did not have this issue with the previous build. Attached is a short .story file (without a video) to review. I appreciate any help that you or others can provide. Thank you.
Hi Kevin,
Happy to help out here! As Lauren mentioned, there's been some significant enhancements made to accessibility, and I'd like to start by sharing some resources that will help you hit the ground running.
This first article references Storyline 360, but applies to Storyline 3 Update 10 and covers how things were before and after the changes and why:
These next articles go into detail and help explain why you're text boxes aren't being read. Tabbing through will only access interactive elements, whereas the directional arrows help you access all slide elements. Please note that there are key differences between when a screen reader is on, and when you just need keyboard accessibility.
Take a look through these and let us know if you have any other specific questions!