Forum Discussion
Accessibility- Sample Courses
Hi! We 're in the process of building courses that follow the WCAG mandate. Looked at the several accessibility features in Articulate.
There are two key needs that we have identified:-
- A need for sample courses that follow WCAG mandate.
- On right clicking the accessibility tab for a specific object in the timeline, the Size and Position window opens up, the Alt Text visibility to accessibility has to be unchecked for every time. This makes it quite cumbersome.
Is there is a shortcut to uncheck accessibility option for all objects. This will make it easy to check the accessibility option only for relevant objects.
Thank you!
Hello everyone,
I have some great news to share! We just released another update for Storyline 360. In Update 100, we have included essential fixes and new features. One of the new features we’ve included is:
- Improve the accessibility of your content. Get actionable feedback based on key WCAG guidelines to instantly identify barriers like missing closed captions and disabled course playback speed.
Launch the Articulate 360 desktop app on your computer to take advantage of this update, and click the Update button next to Storyline 360. You’ll find our step-by-step instructions here.
Please let me know if you need additional help.
21 Replies
Hello RP and welcome to E-Learning Heroes. 😊
Thanks for reaching out to the community with your questions.
We do not currently have sample courses available. Are you having difficulty understanding the conformance of your Storyline 360 project? If you have specific questions, we'd be happy to help.
You can use the Media Library to easily update the Alt Text for images in your course, but not to turn off the visibility. Can you share a bit more about the content of the slides? I'm curious about the content being hidden by screen readers. Is this all decorative?
To piggy back on the original question, if you created a couple of different types of courses using Storyline 360 and made sure they were accessible, meeting WCAG 2.1 AA guidelines, then saved those courses to the tool, a storyline 360 user might be more effective at taking that template and altering to make it accessible following the templates you created. Additionally, like PowerPoint there is an accessibility checker that points out the issues that exist within the PowerPoint to allow users to check and fix their work would be a good feature for Storyline 360 so that creators can check their work to see if it is accessible and fix accordingly.
Where is the accessibility check in Storyline? (I will search for this and may find the answer before anyone responds, but thought the question would be helpful for others following this thread.)
Oh - I misread. there is no accessibility checker in Storyline. There really should be as it is so important these days.
There are few accessibility examples you can check here: https://community.articulate.com/articles/elearning-accessibility-makeover-examples
Fantastic! Thanks for responding to our requests for accessible courses.
I have also created a verified mastercopy accessible course - NVDA, JAWS,
Arla.These will enrich my collection.
Hi
I agree that Articulate should develop templates which have been accessibility tested.
It seems to me that Review 360 may also have some accessibility issues because my screen reader could not even read the text box in SL360. But when put on the LMS, it could. I have to rework my Focus Order though.
Due the accessibility constraints, gamification is no longer in our design list. We can't use drag and drop, hot spots and need to use less variables. Our design priority is now all about compliance to what screen readers can pick.
Authoring tools which can offer a library of accessibility sample courses will win the race.
So please create some samples for us as the deadline for compliance is imminent.
Thanks, Suziana, for your comment. I have searched for Storyline 360 Accessibility on the Articulate sites and the web. All of the articles are several years old and don't apply to 360. What I find is descriptions of the options, not how to implement them to create a course.
I agree with your comment, "Authoring tools which can offer a library of accessibility sample courses will win the race."
I redesigned all my courses in Articulate 360 to:
1) 1 column, follow the structure of heading title, sub title, body text - to overcome Focus Order headache
2) Not using layers or mark up
3) Chunk several topics to 3 topics max. If more I create a separate Articulate block in Rise
4) Use Rise knowledge check function rather than Articulate because I dont want to have any headache on layers.
5) Practise writing good alt text
6) Document everything as part of due diligence
7) Test the course on the LMS using screenreader and document the behaviour.
8) Create podcasts in the LMS which reads out the content. Like an audio book.
I re-used a template which had alt text created for words on a page (text boxes) which is not required. Alt txt should be to describe images and buttons. When our Translator exported it to word, the alt txt appeared for some of the text boxes. They counted them in word count to determine the cost. I had to send them the word documents I was given to populate the course.
When I right clicked on the text box, the drop down gave me the Accessibility feature. When I opened it, it showed old text from the previous course. I deleted it and for some reason it re-appeared. If I uncheck the box where it shows "Alt Text", it keeps it grayed out.
Why is it storing the content for each text box when it is not required. I don't understand.
Dani
Hello Daniela!
I'm happy to clarify! The option to add alt text is a feature for all objects. By default, the alt text for a text box is the text box content unless it is changed in the Accessibility window or Focus Order window. It sounds like the alt text was changed for the text box when previously using the template. From here, you'll want to either erase the alt text for the text box or copy the text and paste it as the alt text.
"the Alt Text visibility to accessibility has to be unchecked for every time. This makes it quite cumbersome"
I agree. I usually CTRL+A to select all, right click and remove accessibility; then select items I want accessible and turn it back on. The only things for which this doesn't work are grouped items and items with states; but these are also the items that won't show up in focus order. For grouped items, I find it easier to use the dropdown in the timeline to open the group and affect the items. For states, you'll have to open each state and find any additional items by pointing and clicking.
Thanks, Pierre!
However, this too is quite long and cumbersome, please.
Let's hope there is an easier way to do this in the coming months.
Best,
Reema Panjwani
If it helps, remember that you can turn on accessibility for multiple items too. If you CTRL+Select the items you do want accessible, right-click and check accessibility to activate all of those items in the focus order. So, select all and deactivate, and then select some and reactivate.
When I think about UI options that would make more sense, I wonder why the check box isn't in the ribbon beside the size-position options. I also don't understand why grouped and stated objects don't show up in the focus order.
This is a great request. I've found implementing comprehensive accessibility for modules very difficult with the resources available. A sample with everything up and running would be amazing!
Two questions:
- Does anyone include infomration within their course that explains the accessibility features to the user? Keyboard shortcuts and the accessibility controls for example?
- In SL360 I am using the modern player and the seekbar/play/pause options to allow users to control the audio narration. It is paused on slide load so that it doesn't interfere with screenreaders and the user can then choose to play the narration. Is this the most accessible way of giving users control over the narration?
Hello Amy,
Sounds like you have design related inquiries to make your courses more accessible. We put together this checklist of accessibility tips and recommendations for Storyline 360 to help our users create accessible courses.
If you have any additional questions or clarifications, feel free to post them here or reach out to our support team by opening a case.
