Hyperlinks are not included in the tab order (unless made into buttons).
Dec 02, 2020
It seems that hyperlinks are not included in the tab order unless they are turned into buttons. Which for links within a sentence, this is not ideal.
Reading from this link: https://articulate.com/support/article/Storyline-360-Accessible-Slide-Content
It says this:
'Learners who use keyboard-only navigation without a screen reader for mobility reasons press Tab and Shift+Tab to move from one interactive object to another on the slide. Press the spacebar or the Enter key to activate an item.
Since keyboard-only users can see text and images, these objects get skipped when tabbing through the slide content. This reduces the number of keystrokes needed to navigate the slide.'
However, hyperlinks that are within the text should be included in the Tab order, as how would a person who only uses a keyboard access the links if they are skipped? As far as I can tell, they can't.
Am I missing something, or do hyperlinks have to be turned into buttons to be included in the Tab order?
Thanks in advance.
6 Replies
Hi Barry!
I'm glad that you brought this up! You're exactly right. Navigating hyperlinks is not included in the Tab Order, nor are they read off as links by screen readers. Not to worry, this is actually a feature on our roadmap, which is labeled Accessible Text Styles! It will be shipping soon, so make sure to keep an eye out for the notification to update Storyline 360.
Visit our feature roadmap to see what else is currently in development!
Hi Lauren,
Sorry for the late reply! And thank you for yours.
I'm glad to see that the Accessible Text Styles have been included in Storyline 360, but I haven't updated and tried them yet. And I'll get onto this ASAP.
Many thanks.
Reviving this thread because this issue has come up with a course I'm working on. Is it possible to add in-text (non-button) hyperlinks as tab stops for keyboard navigation? Thank you!
Hi Sarah,
Welcome to the E-Learning Heroes community!✨
You should be able to add hyperlinks as tab stops for keyboard navigation. If you'd like assistance with this, we'd be happy to take a look at your file! You can upload it here or privately in a support case.
Here are some additional resources that you may find helpful:
Thank you, Kelly! I'm not sure what I was missing before, but I just tested the slide in question using keyboard-only navigation, and I was able to tab to the hyperlinks and press Enter to open them, so it appears to be working. I appreciate your response!
Glad to hear that you are now able to tab to hyperlinks, Sarah! If any other questions come up, feel free to reach out in the thread!
Hope you have a great weekend and happy developing! ✨