Forum Discussion
Feature Request - Enable Screen Reader Support During Preview (by default)
Yesterday, I stumbled across the "Enable screen reader support during preview" feature that was tucked away in the Storyline Options window. Is there a reason why this option isn't checked by default?
Apparently, this feature has been around for at least two years (probably longer), but I didn't know it existed and was publishing a new version of the course every time I needed to check something. I attended the webinar on the Beginner's Guide to NVDA and Storyline for Accessibility Testing and this option wasn't mentioned, so I imagine that a lot of other IDs and e-learning developers who care about accessibility are unaware of it as well.
I see that the "Use Upgraded Text for new projects" was automatically enabled for me in that same window and was curious about why screen readers weren't given the same treatment as it wouldn't impact users who don't have one installed and anyone who has one can cut it off when they don't want to be in speech mode. If it can't be checked by default, is there a reason why it can't be added to the preview toolbar as well?
3 Replies
I've been doing the same as you. Having to export a single slide or create a test scene and copy said slides into it for exporting. Thank you for letting us know. This should be a very obvious feature. Especially after introducing the Accessibility Checker.
Thanks for sharing this, JaredSpeight-22, and for raising such a thoughtful accessibility-focused suggestion.
You’re right that the “Enable screen reader support during preview” option can be easy to miss since it lives in the Options window and isn’t enabled by default. I can see how that could lead to extra publishing steps and make accessibility testing harder than it needs to be, especially for authors who actively want to test with screen readers.
I’ve shared your idea with our product team as a feature request, including your suggestions about enabling it by default or making it more visible, such as adding it to the Preview toolbar. Thanks again for taking the time to call this out and advocate for better accessibility workflows.
That's great news! Thanks for the quick response and for passing it along to the product team.
