Standard text boxes are not being highlighted and read in my screen reader
Feb 27, 2020
Hi.
I have just updated Storyline. I am on v3.37.2453.0 and the text boxes I add to a page are not being highlighted in yellow in my screen reader or being read out. They are listed in the tab order, but the yellow highlight lines that normally select them are not showing.
This is occurring when I preview the file. I am also publishing to Chrome on Windows as a test, and this does not work either. On the latest chrome. Only installed it 5 hours ago:)
What has changed in the past couple of months to make this happen? In the past I would not add any alt text to text boxes (in the tab order screen) because the text box content was read out without doing anything special, even when using a basic reader like MS Narrator.
Any help appreciated. See attachment - the second textbox in the list is how StoryLine typically works- no need for alt text. Nothing was highlighted or read out. The first item shows how I tried to add the same text into Alt text, but even that does not highlight or read out.
Thanks
1 Reply
Take a look at the second pinned thread at the start of the Articulate forum on Accessibility Updates for v36.
Read through the staff post announcement, then be sure to read through the replies for additional context and concerns from the user community.
Additionally, Storyline Preview is not a good indicator of how your screen reader will respond in a browser. I've had crazy things come up also when using Chrome. Try to test in IE to see if that changes your screen reader response. Even then, you may still see subtle differences if viewing a Flash or HMTL export.
Finally, as I understand part of the new update, when a user opens a slide Storyline will automatically start reading content instead of having the user tab through individual elements. My guess is that you're seeing your tab highlights skip directly to your player skin navigation buttons (prev/next), seemingly ignoring your custom text frames, graphics, and buttons? This is supposed to reduce the need for users with assistive technology from clicking around so much. That, unfortunately, opens up other, newer issues such as the inability to control what's being read or moving backwards through a slide to repeat unclear information. That appears to be what you are describing.
As I understand the recent updates, your tab order that you shared as a screen capture here should still dictate AUTOMATIC reading of the slide and what is read and in what order. You just no longer get to tab through it. Some have said the ARROW KEYS give you this control, but I have not been able to find that to be true.
Take a look at that post linked above. Read it. Read our replies. Read our concerns. I have a post near the top of that thread with three additional links to other users' issues that may be similar to yours. Some users have rolled back to the version BEFORE version "36" to avoid these issues. I'm not suggesting you do this. I'm just offering some more context that may or may not help your issue here. At least it may provide more perspective.
Good luck.
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