Managing timeline actions for accessibility
Oct 15, 2018
Hi all,
I've recently been passed a Storyline 360 file which uses a lot of object animations, but these have been flagged as an accessibility issue by a colleague who has difficulty with moving images or objects.
To provide a more accessible experience, is there any way within SL360 to jump to timeline end on each slide, or to allow a secondary, alternative, timeline? both of these could be triggered by a user-set variable. Alternatively, can all animations be suppressed at course level?
Any of these options would be welcome, as - due to course size - creating alternate or modifying slides one at a time will be very time consuming.
All suggestions appreciated!
Many thanks,
Ian
5 Replies
Hi there, Ian. You could have a look at using slide masters to control what happens on many slides at once. For example, if you went with the user-triggered variable to jump to the end of the timeline on all slides, perhaps you could place that trigger and condition setup on a master slide that all of the slides use.
I'll share your ideas for course level control of those functions with our team as a feature request. Thanks for taking the time to tell me about your experience!
Hi Crystal, many thanks for this.
Your answer implies that there IS a way to jump to end of the timeline, but this doesn't appear as an action in the trigger settings - the only timeline choices are Pause and Resume. However, I'm really really hoping that I've overlooked something obvious, or that my installation of SL is somehow missing this awesome functionality - can you please advise?
Yours hopefully,
Ian
Hi Ian,
I think Crystal was referring to the "When" options as you'll have two there that you may be able to use:
Although there is not a "secondary timeline" you could set up a non-animating option on a slide layer or on a separate slide that you branch too? So that trigger may look like "Show Layer X When Timeline Reaches Y Time" and perhaps that time matches when your animations start on the slide? That would require recreating that slide content without animations so it's still a bit of a heavy lift.
As far as overall course changes to animations, there isn't a master setting there since each animation is applied to an object. You could change Slide transitions from within your Story view or Scene panel by selecting all the slides and modifying the transition in the top toolbar.
I'll be curious to hear what others in the community have done for animations in courses designed for accessibility. Any accessibility experts able to weigh in?
I know this is from a while ago - but I am looking to hear from those designing complicated things like animations at different points in timelines - for accessibility - specifically screen reader access. I cannot seem to find threads or videos. Thoughts? Point me in a good direction?
Hello Rachel!
Great question! I'm eager to hear what others recommend.
We recommend offering text-based alternatives for visually impaired learners if you're using animations to provide important context.
For example, add an optional link to an animated slide that opens a static, text-based layer with the same information for learners using screen readers.
Regarding the timeline, we'd recommend including all of the content at the beginning of the timeline so that no information is missed by a screen reader.
I'll keep an eye on this discussion to see what other tips are shared!