Strange Accessibility Behaviors: Yellow Highlights and unaccounted for objects appearing in the tab order.
Oct 24, 2019
I have been seeing some strange accessibility issues with a number of files:
The yellow highlight that is supposed to appear when tabbing from object to object does not always appear. This happens consistently with the Next buttons on our question pages.
It is also occurring with a series of pictures I'm using as buttons. Each "button" has a separate states for Normal, Correct and Incorrect. When I use pictures for each of the states, the yellow highlight never appears for any of the states. I've tried to work around this by creating a shape and using a "picture fill" for each state. In this version, the yellow highlight appears in the Normal state but not the Correct or Incorrect states.
Both of these issues have in common objects with different states. I know this has been a problem for a while in Storyline as I've gone through many discussion threads on this topic in your forums. When is it going to be fixed and what can we do in the meantime?
In addition, we're also seeing extra objects in the tab order on the question pages. They do not appear in the Tab Order dialog box, but are read by the screen reader (JAWS and NVDA) at the end of the tab order. Are you aware of this and is there anything we can do to mitigate the issue?
Any help is greatly appreciated.
Thank you.
14 Replies
Hi Peter,
Thank you for reaching out! I am so sorry that you are running into issues with accessibility behavior in your course.
I am opening up a Support Case on your behalf so our Support Engineers can help troubleshoot this further. Please be on the lookout for an email from Articulate Support!
Hi Vincent,
I received the email from Articulate Support and tried to upload the course several times. Unfortunately our firewalls will not allow me to upload the file.
Have you seen cases similar to this? What is Articulate doing to improve the accessibility functionality in Storyline? When can we expect this to get better?
Thank you Mathew. Is the timeline still accurate? That would mean we would be seeing some improvements in the next few months.
By the way, the situation that I'm seeing is pretty easy to reproduce:
1. Take a graphic and add a trigger to it that jumps to another slide.
2. Give the graphic 3 (or more states). Change the graphic for each state and add a check mark to the last state (Visited). Make sure that the accessibility text is set for each state, and turned off for the check mark.
3, Now try to tab through the page and see if the graphics are highlighted.
As another twist, initially make the graphic (button) disabled and enable it with a button click/trigger elsewhere on the slide.
Another scenario is to put the graphics in a shape:
1. Create a shape and use “picture fill” to add the picture.
2. Add a trigger.
3. Give the shape 3 states and add a separate graphic to each shape. Make sure that the accessibility text is set for each state. Do NOT include a check mark.
4. Now try to tab through the page and see if the graphics are highlighted in each state.
I found that initially they are highlighted (Normal state), but once the state is changed they no longer highlight.
I am using Storyline 3, update 6: 3.6.18134.0.
Hi Peter!
Thank you for sharing the steps to create this scenario!
Unfortunately, I'm not seeing the same output. Even when the state is disabled, the object should be highlighted.
Are you able to share a screenshot of what you see instead?
Unfortunately I cannot share files. What I am seeing, or rather not seeing is the yellow highlight box around graphic objects that have states. I gather that you're seeing them, right? What states are you using, the generic ones or states that you make up? I have seen this issue with both. But if you want to test this behavior further, try adding the states Correct and Incorrect to a graphic. Swap out the graphic for these states. That means that the graphic will have 3 states: Normal, Correct and Incorrect with a different graphic in each. Create a trigger on another page Does that still work?
Also, what version of Storyline are you using?
Thank you!
Sorry this should be: Create a trigger on another page that changes the state. Are you still seeing the yellow highlight box when you tab to the object?
I am experiencing a similar issue. Specifically, when tabbing after the Closed Captioning button, there is a phantom "Graphic Button" that JAWS Screen Reader is picking up.
https://360.articulate.com/review/content/f526b573-e2bb-4523-a88c-d8eb7581ee95/review
Hi Peter!
I see that you're working in a case with one of our Support Engineers, Renato! You're in good hands!
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Hi Christopher!
Are you noticing this in a specific browser?
If you look at the Player settings in Preview, you'll see the option to customize text labels. By any chance, did you change the custom text for the closed captioning button?
This is what the settings look like in the Player:
We have not customized this. Our settings are the same as your screenshot you provided. We are seeing this in Chrome, IE and FireFox.
I also have that issue with phantom graphic buttons. I am not using the player at all.
Thanks for the additional information, Christopher.
With your permission, I'd like you to share your project file with our support engineers to investigate what's happening. You can share it privately by uploading it here. It will be deleted when troubleshooting is complete.
Submitted via Case Number: 02022169
Thank you for keeping accessibility in mind and thank you for the support!
Thanks, Christopher.
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