Focus Order Question

Thank you everyone for sharing!  Good to know, I am not the only one who has spent hours creating custom focus orders.  Here's hoping we soon see the ability to select multiple objects and move them together...

I totally agree with all that's said here, and I'd like to share my current difficulty which is a slide with 7 layers, three of which have tables in. Managing every cell of each table as an individual item is highly problematic - multi select would make this infinitely easier.

Hello Alicia!

I appreciate you taking the time to share this with us! I've shared your comments with my team. From here, we will continue tracking this request. To help you plan, the option to multi-select items in the Focus Order is not currently on our feature roadmap, so it's likely that this feature won't ship in an upcoming release. I'll make sure to advocate on your behalf and update you in this discussion!

Here's how we Manage Feature Requests!

Is there more information somewhere on layers and focus order? It used to be that the way I ordered things in the tab order, items would come into focus only if I was on that layer. Now it seems like no matter what layer I'm on, if I keep tabbing, I'll see every interactive object on every layer highlighted. Are layers just not compatible with keyboard accessibility anymore, or am I missing something?

Also, I LOVE that Articulate has heard users and is working so hard to make Storyline so much more accessible, and many of the instructions are really helpful. However, I'm finding that it's really easy to get lost in a seemingly endless rabbit hole of pages talking about 508 features. Even one that seems to be a central hub of information does not link to the April 2021 updates. So while I'm thankful for all of the information, it would be really helpful to have one place to go with all the info outlined/linked to.

And finally, Rise has a really helpful page with keyboard navigation instructions for users. It would be great if there was a similar page for Storyline where all of the instructions could be laid out (how to navigate, how to go through button sets, etc.). 

Hello Kristin!

I'm happy to help! This is a quick fix. In the Slide Properties for the layers, make sure to check the box for Prevent User from Clicking on the Base Layer. This makes sure only the objects on the layer can be navigated to.

Here are a few accessibility resources that you'll want to bookmark:

• All About Accessibility
• Storyline 360: How to Design an Accessible Course
• Articulate Storyline 360 Accessibility Conformance Report

I'll add my name to those above who would like to see the focus order always start with the base. 

It also seems that each layer should have its own focus order. In other words, until the user activates whatever trigger shows a layer, they shouldn't be able to access anything on that layer.  

• For example, what happens with interactions that have different paths through different layers? There wouldn't be just one perfect focus order. So, no matter how that one order was set, it would be very confusing for someone to follow what's happening. 

I suppose for some instances when layers are shown automatically, it might make sense to have layer objects part of the overall focus order. Thus, ideally, we should first be able to indicate whether we want one focus order per slide or one focus order per layer. 

I agree with Judy.  Having a separate focus order per layer would solve a lot of problems when working with multiple layers.   It was a revelation to me to know that preventing a user from clicking on the base layer prevented users from tabbing through items on on the base layer.  

Also came to research this issue. You would think Articulate would be intuitive enough to to know that the base layer items should appear before layer items, in the default focus order. It seems to go in the EXACT OPPOSITE order you would want a screen reader to view them. Also, to have to move one item at a time on a slide with well over 50 items is maddening. Hours and hours have been lost for what seems like a simple 'feature.' 

Still struggling with this exact issue. It's been over a year just on this discussion thread so hoping a fix is coming soon to the default focus order. Should be what's read first (base layer) at the top, Then the active layer. At least making that default would save SOME time. Also being able to batch move orders rather than having to drag one by one.

I know adding layers and then changing layer order, or having a slide where the user can click into any layer in any order gets confusing quickly for focus order -- that's a whole other issue! (how do you get a user-directed focus order based on what layer is currently activated? That's where the focus order by layer functionality is needed!)

Hi, everyone.

I have great news to share!

We just released another update for Storyline 360. In Update 63, we’ve included important fixes, new features, and enhancements.

One of the enhancements we’ve included is:

Customize the accessibility focus order faster. Select multiple objects, then move or remove them all at once.

For additional information, check out this article!

To take advantage of this update, launch the Articulate 360 desktop app on your computer and click the Update button next to Storyline 360. You'll find our step-by-step instructions here.

Please let us know if you have any questions by reaching out to our Support Engineers directly.