Are scroll panels read properly by the JAWs screen reader using Articulate 360? I haven't tested the functionality yet and was curious on how to use scroll panels while meeting accessibility requirements.
Yes, the text included in your scrolling panel is read by a screen reader. Please keep in mind that screen readers can have limits on characters, but not to worry! Your learner will likely be familiar with using their down arrow to continue reading.
So I have a question pertaining to this, I have a scroll panel, JAWS seems to read it fine, but if the viewer wants to follow along as it reads and attempts to scroll as it reads JAWS stops reading and then seems to start reading out the line numbers as you scroll, as in 1, 2, 3, 4 etc. The only way to get back to reading the text is the back tab, reselect the scroll panel and start over?
It sounds like JAWS text-to-speech stops reading if the learner manually scrolls through a text panel. I’d be happy to help!
I’ve tested this on my end while using JAWS 2023 and publishing the course to Review 360. I did notice the JAWS stopped reading but I didn’t notice numbers being announced. Can you share more about how you’re testing this interaction?
Are you testing your course in Storyline 360 or a web environment like a web server or an LMS?
Which version of JAWS are you using? I am using JAWS 2023.
Which version of Storyline are you using? I tested this using Storyline version 3.73.29904.0 in Windows Parallels on Mac M1
I’m looking forward to troubleshooting this with you!
Thanks for sharing these details with us! This behavior might be expected if you have mouse tracking enabled when using JAWS or NVDA. Are you noticing this behavior when tabbing through the content in the scrolling panel, or is it just when using the mouse to scroll?
This is happening when we are using keyboard function, so tabbing to get to the scroll panel, down arrow to attempt to move it, but that is when the Screen Reader loses focus and starts to count. It would seem it is counting the lines of text as you progress downward with each down arrow function, just an assumption.
This issue still persists, the scroll box gets focus, but if you at that point use the down arrow key you start to hear numbers being read off. I have yet to figure out how to get the content within the scroll window to be read once the scroll window gets focus. Any help would be greatly appreciated in this matter. On a side note, if I start using the down arrow from the very beginning as soon as the page loads, the content is then read.
Thanks for letting us know that you're still experiencing this. Are you willing to share your file with our team? We'd be happy to test it on our end to see if we can replicate the behavior. We'll delete it from our systems once troubleshooting is complete!
I have uploaded a .storyfile with an example of the related issue. I have tested this in NVDA and JAWS and get the same result. Once I tab to the scroll panel, if I hit tab, it moves away from the scroll panel to the next object, if while still focused on the scroll panel I hit the down arrow key, it move the scroll down, but does not read the content, instead it starts to count numbers. If by chance I am going at this incorrectly and need to make different keyboard selections please let me know.
To read text in the scrolling panel, you’ll need to put the screen reader back into Browse Mode via Insert + Spacebar. This will select the entire scrolling panel for you to scroll through. Please let me know if you run into any trouble!
10 Replies
Hi RECO Education,
Yes, the text included in your scrolling panel is read by a screen reader. Please keep in mind that screen readers can have limits on characters, but not to worry! Your learner will likely be familiar with using their down arrow to continue reading.
So I have a question pertaining to this, I have a scroll panel, JAWS seems to read it fine, but if the viewer wants to follow along as it reads and attempts to scroll as it reads JAWS stops reading and then seems to start reading out the line numbers as you scroll, as in 1, 2, 3, 4 etc. The only way to get back to reading the text is the back tab, reselect the scroll panel and start over?
Hi Garry!
It sounds like JAWS text-to-speech stops reading if the learner manually scrolls through a text panel. I’d be happy to help!
I’ve tested this on my end while using JAWS 2023 and publishing the course to Review 360. I did notice the JAWS stopped reading but I didn’t notice numbers being announced. Can you share more about how you’re testing this interaction?
I’m looking forward to troubleshooting this with you!
Testing in Storyline 360
JAWS 2023
Storyline version is the same as yours.
I am however using everything on a windows 10 laptop.
Thanks, curious to see what we can come up with, just and FYI, I experienced the same thing when I ran it through NVDA as well.
Hello Garry!
Thanks for sharing these details with us! This behavior might be expected if you have mouse tracking enabled when using JAWS or NVDA. Are you noticing this behavior when tabbing through the content in the scrolling panel, or is it just when using the mouse to scroll?
Laurn,
This is happening when we are using keyboard function, so tabbing to get to the scroll panel, down arrow to attempt to move it, but that is when the Screen Reader loses focus and starts to count. It would seem it is counting the lines of text as you progress downward with each down arrow function, just an assumption.
This issue still persists, the scroll box gets focus, but if you at that point use the down arrow key you start to hear numbers being read off. I have yet to figure out how to get the content within the scroll window to be read once the scroll window gets focus. Any help would be greatly appreciated in this matter. On a side note, if I start using the down arrow from the very beginning as soon as the page loads, the content is then read.
Hi, Gary!
Thanks for letting us know that you're still experiencing this. Are you willing to share your file with our team? We'd be happy to test it on our end to see if we can replicate the behavior. We'll delete it from our systems once troubleshooting is complete!
I have uploaded a .storyfile with an example of the related issue. I have tested this in NVDA and JAWS and get the same result. Once I tab to the scroll panel, if I hit tab, it moves away from the scroll panel to the next object, if while still focused on the scroll panel I hit the down arrow key, it move the scroll down, but does not read the content, instead it starts to count numbers. If by chance I am going at this incorrectly and need to make different keyboard selections please let me know.
Hi Garry!
Thank you for sharing your .story file!
To read text in the scrolling panel, you’ll need to put the screen reader back into Browse Mode via Insert + Spacebar. This will select the entire scrolling panel for you to scroll through.
Please let me know if you run into any trouble!