Text NOT read by screen reader NVDA

Hi there, Shraddha!

I appreciate you sharing a sample file with our Engineers for testing. I see that Gerald connected this experience to a possible bug where:

• Some keystrokes (Tab, Space bar, Up and Down keys) are not picked by screen readers when viewing the Storyline 360 course in Review 360. This only affects content published to Review 360, not Web or LMS.

I know you and Gerald are troubleshooting other behaviors, but I'll share this discussion in our internal report so we can notify you of any updates! Thanks for bearing with us.

Hi Katei,

Yes, Gerald is helping us with the troubleshooting for these issues. However, we are facing these issues for  Web and LMS too. 

Request you to look into these at the earliest and resolve them ASAP as all our accessibile projects are on hold. 

Thanks,

Shraddha

I appreciate the additional information, Shraddha. I've passed this along to Gerald as you continue working together.

Hi Team,

We are also facing the same issue while using NVDA screen reader it does not read the main body text of course and jumps to the navigations buttons. The focus order is also correct and we are using NVDA version 2021.1. Can you please provide solution any for this issue.

Thanks,

Arpana

Hello Arpana,

Thank you for reaching out and sharing what you are experiencing with your project.

You mention that the screen reader is reading the navigation buttons but not the text on the slide. I'm curious if you're using the Tab key to navigate or using the Up/Down arrows?

Learners use their screen reader navigation keys (e.g., Down and Up arrows) to move through all text and interactive objects on the slide, listening to each item along the way.

Storyline 360: Slide Content Is More Accessible

Hi Leslie,

It's working now, thanks for your help in this.

But now we are facing the new issue of the Table is not properly read by the screen reader. It just read a table with 2 columns with 4 rows and doesn't even focus on each row of the table it read all of the content at the top of the screen only. The user is also enabled to move on to the table using the table command (i.e. T) in NVDA it reads no next table.

Can you please provide any solution for this issue that would be very helpful?

Thanks & Regards

Arpana.

Hello Arpana!

I'm happy to help! Are you navigating through the course in Storyline or the published output like on a website or LMS? You'll want to test the course outside of Storyline.

It would be helpful to take a look at the .story file. You can either attach it to this public discussion or upload it privately in a support case.

Hi Lauren

I have the same issue as well. The screen reader could pick up the buttons but not the content. I'm using the review platform. 

Thanks and regards
Suzi

Hello Suziana!

Have you tested your course in the end environment like a website or LMS instead of Review 360? Are you noticing the same behavior?

If you don't already have a website or LMS that you're using, try uploading your course to Tempshare or SCORM cloud and then navigate through the course with a screen reader in those environments.

It worked on the LMS but I need to address some Focus Order issues. I used minimum interaction.

I really think Articulate need to have a webinar on accessibility. The guides on the Articulate website are all over the places and with walls of texts. Tell us what features to use. How to use layers. I'm stripping all layers. With accessibility, features and interactions no longer matter. I dont even want to think about variables now.

I'm also chunking lessons using SL 360 even more. It doesnt make sense to pay  the yearly subscription fee only end up with a glorified powerpoint.

That's why Articulate need to set up webinars on accessibility. Sooner rather than later.

Hi Suziana,

We have conducted a few webinars on accessibility, which you can find here.

You initially mentioned that the buttons were being picked up, but not the content. Typically screen reader users navigate using up/down arrows, which include both interactive and text information. It sounds like you may be tabbing through the content. Here is some info:

Storyline 360: Slide Content Is More Accessible

All objects for the slide will appear in the Focus Order window, including objects from layers and slide masters. They are not treated separately since layers are used to display additional content on a slide.

Hi, everyone.

I just wanted to share that we are no longer seeing the bug reported where NVDA skips reading slide contents and goes directly to the settings button using the latest build of Storyline (3.61.27106.0).

If you're using the latest version and you're still experiencing this issue, please reach out to our support team through a case. 

Hello,
I'm experiencing these same issues in which NVDA screen reader (version 2022.2) skips the content on each of the slides and only reads the player navigation buttons. Doing a search led me to this discussion. I am using Storyline build 3.66.28355.0.

On slides where there is a multiple choice question, it doesn't read the question and goes straight to the response options. I am using the tab key to go from one section to the next. I tried using the up/down arrow keys, which helped, but it only reads one line at a time, and often doesn't read the entire line.

I have checked focus order and it is correct. I am viewing the course using our LMS--not Review. 

Any help would be appreciated. I'm attaching the file for your testing.

Hi Martin, 

Thanks for sharing a copy of your published course. Would you mind sharing a copy of your project file here or in private by opening a support case so we can take a look at how your slides are setup? 

Here are some of the things that we'll be checking in your project file to troubleshoot the behavior: 

• The focus order of your slides. The question text box should be one of the items that is listed here.
• The Slide Master layout that your question slides use. 

Looking forward to your response!

We really require in depth video tutorials on accessibility experiences for different slide designs and interactions. We too are now on hold of releasing modules due to accessibility issues. Its hit and miss. NVDA reader does not always read the text, and still skips it at times even though the focus On settings are correctly lined up. Also how it works using video players in a slide compared to the timeline player. This is hit and miss.

@Darren: good feedback.

We have some accessibility webinars on the training site currently. We'll be doing more soon. One of the goals is to walk through how things should work with keyboard navigation and interactivity.

Outside of technical glitches, I think a common challenge is that many users don't know how to use the assistive technology like NVDA or JAWS in the same way an everyday use would. And, not all of the tech works the same way or it does have issues reading content (happens with websites, too, not just published courses).

And there is a balance between what the tools give you and what and how you need to build the content.

Hi there, I am using NVDA 2023.2 and facing similar issues (NVDA does not read texts on the slide, despite the accessibility text box being ticked. However, it does read the menu side bar, resource title, and the navigation buttons such as play, captions,...). I have published the course in our LMS, Review 360, and view it in Preview. 

I wonder if there are any workaround or solutions to this issue yet? Thank you. 

Hi Paige, 

Happy to chime in!

For text boxes, you'll want to use the screen reader's navigation keys (e.g., Down and Up arrows) to cycle through all text. You can check out this article for more information:

• Storyline 360: Slide Content Is More Accessible

Simply using the tab key jumps the learner from one interactive object to another, skipping text and images.

If you're experiencing something else entirely, would you be willing to share a copy of your project file here or in private by opening a support case so we can take a closer look at what's happening? We'll delete it when we're done testing!