Forum Discussion
Accessible Course - Issue using audio with forced navigation
Hello! I have been learning about making courses accessible. I have come across an issue with controlling audio along with forced navigation.
I have a small prototype with a few different slide se...
Hi Sherri,
From an accessibility standpoint, you have some conflicts here. If you're giving the user the ability to not play the audio automatically, are you trying to meet the standard that media shouldn't auto-play? Since users select 'Next' to proceed to the next slide, that Next button is really functioning as a "play" for them for the next slide, so the audio isn't really "auto-playing." The "Next" is what they're using to tell Storyline that they're ready to hear the audio and see the content on the next slide.
A more common approach is to allow the users to go through the course without audio at all. If a user is navigating using a screen reader, they'll want to hear their screen reader, not your slide audio. There's a good chance they'll end up muting the slide if it is interfering with their screen reader, as I think you mentioned your tester experienced in a previous post.
When we have a client who requests an accessible course but also restricted navigation, we do things a little simpler. By assuming that the "next" button is functioning as the "play" button for the next slide, we create an error layer that displays if the user selects the next button but has not completed all of the tasks on the slide (like selecting an item to view a layer with more information).
Your course actually does have your current preferred setup (all elements or all elements and the audio button), since the Next variable you've created doesn't change until the timeline ends, and the timeline will only end if the user plays the audio.
As far as an accessibility best practice, I'd also recommend that you replace anywhere you say "click" with the word "select." Click implies mouse usage, and someone using assistive technologies may not be clicking, and neither would a user on a mobile device.
Hi Elizabeth!
Thanks for your response. Our tester stated that when entering a slide, the automatic playing of the audio was competing with the announcement of the screen reader. The screen reader starts off announcing the header and title page. That was speaking over the slide audio. That is why they requested the option to turn audio off and offer the audio icon for each slide.
My issue is trying to make a course fit for both accessible and non-accessible users. Our courses are set up to force users to select all elements on the page, which is All elements Except the audio icon (which is for accessible users). Now that we are making the courses accessible and requiring that accessible users click all elements AND the audio icon, we can't seem to set that up on the slides. Is there a way to make each slide switch to the Accessible requirements (that is, select all elements on the slide plus the audio icon) without interfering with the user experience of persons who are not using accessibility?
Also, I agree with not forcing users to also listen to slide audio; however, some of our courses have different audio than what is on the slide. This is not in the example I uploaded, but some clients want little text on the slide and then they want the audio to expand on more information. I think when we start a new project, we need to bring this to the client's attention regarding the use of audio.
For your point about replacing "click" with "select", thank you! That's a good point and I missed that. We are currently working on a list of items to do for upcoming accessibility courses so I will be sure to fix that!
Change your "when" on your variables that control the next button.
For example, on 1.2 Financial Integrity, change your trigger from Set NextS3 to value True when the timeline ends to instead Set NextS3 to value True when the media completes on the audio file.
That means that the audio has to play in order for that variable to switch from false to true, and once that variable is true, the next button becomes active.
I recorded a Peek for you here, sorry if I am long winded :)
https://360.articulate.com/review/content/edd9dfcc-96ad-4eb5-8002-253fca803a4c/review
