Forum Discussion
Accessibility and the Carousel Block
I have have a peer who is blind and I asked if he could go through a test file in RISE with just the Carousel block. I was struggling to figure out which instructions I need to write to move through the carousel to be accessible not fully know what a screen reader reads out.
I received the following feedback from him and was wondering since I can't make any changes to alt text of the arrows is this something Articulate could make a priority fix. and curious if others have thoughts or recommendations on how you introduce a carousel to your learners to be inclusive.
Here are his thoughts that I thought could be helpful to Artriculate product team for improving for accessibility.
"When I navigate through that slide, I hear things like "Slide X of Y" and "Go to previous slide" > "Go to next slide."
It's all pretty clear to me.
[The issue is]... its focus management means I have to do extra work to know precisely where I am at (it doesn't automatically focus the new slide's content).
It also seems to put the carousel and slide controls above the associated content. So it means selecting Next, navigating down, then having to go back up to the controls to get to the Next button again.
The preferred pattern would be to place the controls at the bottom. When the user clicks Next, focus would be set to the heading at the top of the carousel. Then when they reached the bottom of the content, they'd get the controls again."
I just wanted to share in case Articulate staff can forward this to a product team member.
This was the example I shared:
https://360.articulate.com/review/content/e419c690-0c39-4009-b237-67fbeab9d2c0/review
3 Replies
Thank you TeresaVanderpos ! We've taken this into account. This feedback is very insightful and exactly the kind we've been collecting to help improve the overall inclusivity of Process block.
In your post, you also mentioned you can't make changes to the alt text of the previous and next buttons. You can actually modify the accessibility labels for these via Course Settings → Labels → Screen Reader Announcement Tab and look for “Process” category.
You also inquired about how to introduce the carousels to your learner to be more inclusive, which is a truly challenging task. Carousels in general are complex and inherently ambiguous to navigate. While no single instruction that will serve everyone equally well, here are some ideas that can help alleviate some of its complexity.
Take advantage of the screen reader announcement labels. Update labels where they can better assist screen reader users. For example:
- Process region label
- Use something like “Carousel widget.” This gives screen reader users a clearer signal that they are entering a custom interactive component. For users familiar with carousels, it sets expectations; for others, it indicates that a specific interaction pattern is in use.
- Process role description
- Consider a more familiar term like “Slide show” for the role description. This can help set a clearer mental model, as “slide show” is widely understood and may better communicate how the content behaves
- Process slide controls group label
- Rename it to something more descriptive such as “Slide pagination.” This more accurately reflects its natural function and makes it easier to understand.
Consider including a short instruction to help orient users. You can tailor it to how your content is most likely to be used and who. It could also be for general use like this example:
Take a moment to explore and familiarize yourself with the following interaction before getting started. Use the slide pagination buttons to jump to any slide, or use the previous and next buttons to move sequentially.
This helps encourage screen reader users to explore the component first, allowing them to build a mental model of how it is structured. Describing how to navigate also makes screen reader users aware right away of the available controls and how they can be used to move through the content.
Hope these ideas would help in the meantime, as we continue to improve the experience overtime.
Cheers!
Marvie- Process region label
Thank you for sharing this helpful feedback TeresaVanderpos! I've shared it with our team. They'll follow up with you directly if they need additional information.
That's great feedback. I'll tag some of the staff to ensure this gets seen:
