New in Storyline 360: Even More Accessibility Features and Enhancements
Sep 28, 2021
Empowering you to build great learning experiences for all your learners is essential. We’re excited to bring you another batch of accessibility features and improvements that’ll help you do just that.
Modern Player Accessible Contrast
Now when you use the modern player in Storyline 360, you can work confidently, knowing that the built-in features in the player actually exceed the WCAG AA guidelines for visual contrast and color. That way all your learners can read text, decipher icons, perceive controls, and navigate easily.
Here’s what it looks like:
Dark Theme |
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Light Theme |
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What a difference, right? That’s the great thing about accessibility. It improves the learning experience for everyone.
Learn more about the Modern Player Accessible Contrast feature.
Two-Color Focus Indicator
You can now choose not just one but two focus colors to ensure that learners using a keyboard to navigate can always see what they’re selecting no matter what color the background is.
Learn more about the Two-Color Focus Indicator feature.
Captions Font Size
Another feature we’ve added is the ability to increase the font size of your closed captions without changing the player font size when you use the modern player. That way, you can make closed captions easier to read for all learners.
Learn how to change the font size for closed captions.
Logo Alt Text
Finally, you can now add alt text to your company logo or hide it from accessibility controls if you don’t feel it’s necessary—giving you more control over the learner experience.
Learn how to add alt text to your logo.
With these new features, you’ve got more power and control to design great learning experiences for all your learners. Stay tuned to our What’s New page to find out about the latest accessibility features and head over to our Feature Roadmap to see what’s to come.
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Hello Everyone!
I'm happy to share that we have released Storyline 360 version 86 (Build 3.86.32028.0).
Included in this release is a new feature where you can customize the foreground and background colors of closed captions to complement your course design and maintain contrast accessibility.
All you need to do is update Storyline 360 in your Articulate 360 desktop app on your computer. You'll find our step-by-step instructions here.
Please let us know if you have any questions by reaching out to our Support Engineers directly.
Have a great day!
26 Replies
Agreed, this is great news. One thing that strikes me, though, is that some features (Two-Color Focus Indicator) are being added only to the modern player. Is there a plan to also bring those features to the classic player or should I expect that some features will only ever be available in the modern player?
Hi Erich!
We don't have plans to add the two-focus indicator to the Classic Player. We are prioritizing features for the Modern Player, but if this makes it on our roadmap, I'll be sure to update you in this discussion!
Are there plans for changing the ability to customize matching questions? Since drag and drop are not accessible, we should be using matching more and the matching with drop-down has limited customization (changing of size of font for drop-downs) and length of text box.
Hi, Naomi.
This sounds like an excellent idea for a feature request! You can submit one here, and if it makes it into our feature roadmap, we'll make sure to update you!
Hi Erich! I know this is an old post, but speaking from experience, I believe you should stay away from the classical player entirely if you aim to create accessible elearning. It's not worth the hazzle.
Is there any plan for accessibility improvements for using Storyline itself as a developer? The system fonts and buttons are just so terribly tiny, blurry and low contrast. I've tried various settings on my PC, that help to improve other programmes on a wide screen, but has no impact whatsoever on Storyline. I really don't think I'm going to be able to use it (I'm on a trial)....
Hi, Sarah.
Thank you for reaching out!
We have a feature request logged for Accessible Authoring in Storyline 360.
I will update this discussion if I have any news to share or if this request makes it to our feature roadmap.
In the meantime, I hope others in the community might have some tips on settings that might be helpful for you!
Hi, I love the additional feautures in the most recent update of Storyline. However I discovered a bug that is quite irritating:
When one adds a wipe from left to right per paragraph effect to text, the animation no longer keeps to the actual length entered, but rather to the length of the timeline. This makes further animation difficult.
Can you kindly check that?
Thank you!
Hi, Iris.
Thank you for reaching out!
I'm not able to reproduce this issue when using Storyline 360 Build 3.63.27628.0.
Here's an example:
I added squares that show up every half a second on the timeline (which should match when the next paragraph appears):
Let me know if you're experiencing something different.
In the Modern player, can the attributes of the CC be modified, i.e. CC background color (defaults to the Dark color), the opacity of the CC container, and the font color?
If you change the attributes in the Classic Player, will the CC attributes carry over to the Modern Player?
Hi, Emerson.
Thank you for reaching out!
While not a current feature of Storyline, we have a request logged for the ability to customize the Closed Caption colors, and it's linked to this discussion.
We'll come back to update you when we have news to share.
Hi, Francois.
The Custom Color in the Modern Player allows you to change the background color (which automatically adjusts the font color based on contrast), accent color, and the accessibility focus colors.
If your design allows, you can remove the player's menus and controls, maximizing the content.
Take a look at this article that describes which elements add to the overall size of the Modern Player:
I hope this helps!
Can you import multiple closed caption files in Storyline? I have a course that needs to be translated in multiple languages.
Hi Jennifer,
Storyline 360 currently doesn't support adding multiple Closed Caption files in the Player, but there is already an open feature request to have this added to Storyline 360. I've added your voice to the request, and we'll let you know when there's an update for it. Here's a quick look at how we handle feature requests for your reference.
Because of client requirements we are still using the classic player. We are in process of finalizing a course, but our 508-compliance review found an issue where the highlight boxes that appear for user of screen readers are not appearing above the hyperlink text on screen, but are appearing offset to the left or right. In some cases additional highlight boxes are also appearing, in addition to those that are appropriately appearing above the linked text on screen.
We have had success fixing this in one instance (one out of 125 slides) where rebuilding the text box containing the link(s) has resolved the issue, but has not worked in other instances.
We've submitted a ticket to support along with sample slides where we are encountering the issue.
Has anyone else encountered this issue before?
Hi Claire,
Welcome to the E-Learning Heroes community! ✨
I see that you’re working with one of our Support Engineers, Renato. You’re in great hands! We’ll continue the conversation in your support case.
Hello,
I'm new to the community! I had a question regarding Storyline's Focus Order. It's including a "Master Slide - Line" that I can't find on the Master Slide or the project slides. It won't let me delete it from the Focus Order, only move it to the end of the list. I just don't want a screen reader to say "line" if there is no line. Any guidance is greatly appreciated. Thanks!
Hi Chrysti,
Welcome to the E-Learning Heroes community! ✨
I see that you’ve reached out to our Support Engineers and are working with my teammate, Lejan. You’re in great hands! We’ll continue the conversation in your support case.
Hi Kelly,
I have been assigned as the account manager for 360 and i need help with signing in. is there someone i can contact regarding this?
Hi George,
I'm happy to help! I've created a supported case on your behalf to troubleshoot further. You'll receive an email shortly!
Hello everyone!
I have some great news to share! We just released another update for Storyline 360. In Update 81, we've included important fixes and new features.
One of the bugs we've fixed is:
Launch the Articulate 360 desktop app on your computer to take advantage of this update, and click the Update button next to Storyline 360. You'll find our step-by-step instructions here.
Please let me know if you need additional help!
This course will teach you how to make courses accessible. https://www.udemy.com/course/wcag-accessibility-features-for-articulate-storyline/?referralCode=EEB912288397B00B8DF4
Hello Everyone!
I'm happy to share that we have released Storyline 360 version 86 (Build 3.86.32028.0).
Included in this release is a new feature where you can customize the foreground and background colors of closed captions to complement your course design and maintain contrast accessibility.
All you need to do is update Storyline 360 in your Articulate 360 desktop app on your computer. You'll find our step-by-step instructions here.
Please let us know if you have any questions by reaching out to our Support Engineers directly.
Have a great day!
Just discovered this update and I'm delighted to be able to increase Closed Captions font size - thank you!