Progress bar and accessibility - any ideas?

Mar 23, 2015

Vicky Greaves
By Vicky Greaves

I needed a progress bar in a hurry and as a quick, if not so slick solution to this, I created a thin line at the bottom of the content window to give an indication of progress without taking up too much screen space. The idea was that it would look to be part of the player. I actually created this as a layer on each slide.

Progress bar

This worked fine until I came to accessibility testing. 

When using keyboard navigation, the <Tab> moves through the player buttons but because the progress bar is on a layer which is shown when the timeline starts, the focus will not move onto the slide content (base layer) using the keyboard. The only way to move the focus onto the slide content (base layer) and away from the progress bar layer, is to click on the screen using a mouse. (Arghh...!)

I am using Storyline in a Special Education college where accessibility is extremely important. 

Can anybody tell me if I've missed something, or if there's another way around this? 

Thanks :-)

 

3 Replies
Steve Flowers
9 years ago03/23/15 at 5:28 pm (UTC)

Hi Vicky - 

What version of Storyline are you using? I just tested with what I think is a similar configuration and when a layer opens on timeline start, I'm still able to tab back to the other elements. By chance, when you edit your layer properties is "Prevent the user from clicking on the base layer" checked? This will prevent tabbing back to the base layer. If that's checked, uncheck it:)

 

Vicky Greaves
9 years ago03/24/15 at 9:53 am (UTC)

Thanks to both of you for your suggestions.

I'm using Storyline 2 and I'm quite new to it, so could well have missed something.

Steve - "Prevent the user from clicking on the base layer" isn't checked, however, I've just done a little more testing and have made a discovery...

I've unchecked the "Object is visible to accessibility tools" box in "Size and Position", as users have no need to tab through the progress bar. If I re-check this box, it fixes the issue.

So, the good news is, I've worked out what's causing the problem but it does mean an extra <tab> for users, which isn't really what I want.

I think I might have to try Linda's suggestion, and test it on the base layer instead.

I'm open to any more suggestions. Thanks again to you both!

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