We know it’s important for you to be able to create accessible e-learning—not just because it’s a compliance issue, but because it’s critical to build training that’s inclusive. And we’re committed to delivering the features you need to help you do that.
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We’ve taken some important steps to empower you to create accessible e-learning content. We’ve partnered with accessibility experts, Deque, to audit our products and help us prioritize new features and feature enhancements. We’ve also worked closely with a large, diverse group of early access testers on features and feature enhancements to make sure any changes we’re making are the right approach.
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Because of this work we’ve been able to roll out several new features in the past few months like the ability to add alt text and closed captions to your media library assets, as well as the ability to add closed captions to Rise 360 videos.
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We’ve also recently released several features in Storyline 360 that are focused on making the course player and slide content more accessible by standardizing the user experience so it’s more in line with other web experiences. These features also ensure that courses work with a broader range of screen readers, web browsers, and devices.
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Below is a broad comparison of the user experience before and after these enhancements.
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\n\n\n| \n Before \n | \n\n After \n | \n
\n\n\n\n\nThe Course Player\n | \n
\n\n| \n Screen reader users and keyboard users tabbed through every button and menu item in the player. \nThis approach was burdensome and inconsistent with other web navigation experiences, particularly for screen reader users. \n | \n\n The course player has been re-organized to make it easier for users of accessibility aids to understand where they are and move around quickly. \nThis includes the use of ARIA landmarks and regions as appropriate (e.g. navigation regions), as well as restructuring of the player behind the scenes into discrete areas of functionality that follow a consistent order and hierarchy. \n | \n
\n\n| \n The course player in Storyline 360 supported the JAWS screen reader on desktop devices. \n | \n\n In addition to JAWS, the course player in Storyline 360 supports NVDA, VoiceOver, and TalkBack to view courses on desktop, tablet, and mobile devices. \n | \n
\n\n\nNavigating Slides \n | \n
\n\n| \n Just as they navigated the course player, screen reader users and keyboard users tabbed to move to, or focus on, each individual item on the screen. Then users could use their spacebar to activate interactive elements on the screen like buttons or other controls. \nThis put a burden on users who needed to hit the tab button to navigate each and every item. \n | \n\n Navigation has been made more consistent with other web experiences. \nThe tab order dialog in Storyline is still used to define the reading order of the page, but the ‘tab’ key will only focus on interactive objects like buttons, controls and links. \nScreen reader users press their screen reader’s navigation keys (typically the down / up arrows) to move through all text and interactive objects in order. \n | \n
\n\n| \n Most objects in Storyline were drawn as shapes. For example, a radio button would be drawn as a circle with a dot instead of a standard HTML radio button. \nThis allowed for more control over the appearance of published courses in different web browsers, but wasn’t compatible with assistive technologies. \n | \n\n Now, most objects on your slides are rendered as standard HTML that follows best practices for web accessibility. \nThis means your learners can use a broader array of accessibility aids, such as screen readers, to navigate your courses much the same way they browse web pages. \n | \n
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Our work in this area is ongoing. We’re digging into all of the helpful feedback you’ve shared with us so far as well as the improvements identified by our outside accessibility experts. We’re also hotlisting and addressing critical bug fixes, and we’re reviewing ideas for more feature enhancements. You can learn more about the steps we’re taking in our roadmap.
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We’re on this journey with you and we’re listening. We know new ways of doing things may take some time to get used to—for you and for your learners. We’re here to help and we appreciate your feedback and suggestions.
I have the exact same problem with JAWS reading the slide name several times. Originally some of my issues were, apparently, a bug in the version of JAWS I was using. I have updated to JAWS 2020, and still have the problem of JAWS reading slide names several times in a row. To be clear, I don't mean slide title, which is visible on the screen. I mean slide name, which should be invisible to the course participant.
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I work for the Federal government, and by law all of our courses must be 508 compliant. The version from December of last year is the only one that works for me, which is annoying because I can't get access to the great new features.
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Oddly, some of my coworkers also use Storyline and don't have the same problem I have. Because of that, I've tried this on both my work computer and my personal computer, and I have the same problem on both. Could it somehow be an issue in the installation, or some problem with interactions with other software? I do have an open ticket about this. I've tried uninstalling and reinstalling the software, with no difference in behavior.
I have the exact same problem with JAWS reading the slide name several times. Originally some of my issues were, apparently, a bug in the version of JAWS I was using. I have updated to JAWS 2020, and still have the problem of JAWS reading slide names several times in a row. To be clear, I don't mean slide title, which is visible on the screen. I mean slide name, which should be invisible to the course participant.
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I work for the Federal government, and by law all of our courses must be 508 compliant. The version from December of last year is the only one that works for me, which is annoying because I can't get access to the great new features.
\n
Oddly, some of my coworkers also use Storyline and don't have the same problem I have. Because of that, I've tried this on both my work computer and my personal computer, and I have the same problem on both. Could it somehow be an issue in the installation, or some problem with interactions with other software? I do have an open ticket about this. I've tried uninstalling and reinstalling the software, with no difference in behavior.
Thanks Simon, I can confirm that neither JAWS nor NVDA reads the slides properly. NVDA stopped reading the body text after a few slides. JAWS has got too many bags and also sometimes doesn't progress to the next slide (not to mention it reads the slide title 3 times in a row and reads buttons twice). Summarising, the blind people don't have ANY tool to use with the SL courses.
Thanks Simon, I can confirm that neither JAWS nor NVDA reads the slides properly. NVDA stopped reading the body text after a few slides. JAWS has got too many bags and also sometimes doesn't progress to the next slide (not to mention it reads the slide title 3 times in a row and reads buttons twice). Summarising, the blind people don't have ANY tool to use with the SL courses.
