Forum Discussion
RISE - accessibility features
One year ago there was a discussion around accessibility - WCAG AA, WAI-ARIA Labels, Section 508, DDA, Equality Act and Screen Reader Supports.
It was noted that Articulate were working on this and that there would be further developments in this regard. Have the accessibility issues been addressed. This is important for me as I am about to develop a course and would like to use RISE rather than Storyline.
Thank you
- SharonEnglishCommunity Member
I just got my testing results back and I'm happy to share them with the community.
My approach:
I created a course and basically inserted one of every type of block there is in Rise. I applied as many accessibility considerations as I could in terms of contrast, alt text on images etc.
I shared the course with a colleague who is blind and uses JAWS screen reading technology, and here's what we discovered:
What to avoid:
- image galleries and carousels
- fill in the blank questions
- continue divider - the block seem to add a lot of 'noisy' script
- labelled diagrams - tab order just keeps looping between labels
- quiz block - hard to navigate, each question is announced twice (use knowledge check instead)
- quiz maker inserted as storyline block - 'noisy' script that could not be navigated
- step order process interaction
- timeline interaction - headings 'style' is a problem
- flashcard interaction
- any drag and drop - eg card sort interaction and question type
- multiple response questions
What worked well:
- buttons with links (but they 'appear' below in a screen reader announcement, not right as visually displayed)
- accordion - however, headings are problematic as often not in sequence
- single response radio button questions (but this is very limiting for non-vision impaired learners)
- Text, statement, quote, list functions
- file downloader
- two column text function
- image function - using alt text (alt text space not limited which is good)
- embedded video (provided video has closed captions)
Hopefully, this helps those of you who are keen to use Rise but still need to provide accessible eLearning.
I'd welcome the chance to continue a best practice dialogue in this space and look forward to hearing about the approach that you are taking.
- SharonEnglishCommunity Member
From all of the above, if I could have just one wish:
- The ability to apply a CSS style for headings would be an amazing win. Many of the blocks have hard-coded heading styles that aren't editable as part of the design process, which causes many tab order and sequence problems.
- HeathSampson-26Community Member
Hi Sharon, a huge thank you for sharing your results. I too am about to complete an accessibility exploration of Rise blocks, so your findings are very helpful.
- ShrutiSinha-8b3Community Member
Hi Sharon,
It's really interesting yo read what you have done. I am about to start with such a course so needed your guidance. what guidelines you follow/ what suggestions you have for develipment/testing /execution of such a course.
And if possible will you be able to share your course with me: shruti.sinha@schneider-electric.com
Thanks
shruti
- KyleYoung-da226Community Member
Hi Sharon. This is great information. Thank you!
Would you be open to sharing your course? I'd be interested in seeing the functionality and the output. I am currently looking to make a decision about developing in Rise or Storyline 360 and I haven't used Rise before.
- BrianWojcikCommunity Member
Is there a consolidated VPAT or other documentation that discusses the degree to which RISE is accessible in it's current iteration? Trying to find this answer across multiple threads and product release notes is difficult, at best.
Hi Brian!
Rise isn't fully accessible yet. Our ultimate goal is to meet accessibility guidelines. So far, we’ve increased the contrast for built-in course features, added alt text for images, and added keyboard-accessible navigation. And we’re currently working on full screen reader support. Stay tuned!
- BrianWojcikCommunity Member
Is that for both the authorware side as well as the content that is produced? I do not understand why - in this day and age - products are not produced with accessibility as a central tenet of the core design.
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Hi folks. Editing my reply to answer the most recent query! So far, we’ve increased the contrast for built-in course features, added alt text for images, and added keyboard-accessible navigation. And we’re currently working on full screen reader support.
I don't have an update about additional features just yet, but since you've replied here, you'll be notified when we share more information. Thanks!
Hello everyone! I’m happy to share our Rise 360 Accessibility Collection, which includes the VPAT to describe how Rise 360 conforms to WCAG 2.1 Level AA criteria.
We also updated our roadmap to include Rise 360 features we’re continuing to develop to better support WCAG.
Let me know your questions and experiences building accessible courses for all!- MarkBanit-62dcfCommunity Member
Back in December I was so happy to see that there had finally seemed to be a lot of progress made in making Rise accessible and up to WCAG standards. Even though it seemed to only be partially there, I had a lot of hope in that it wouldn't be long before the outstanding components were addressed (based on the messaging I had saw)... It's now almost July and the last updated date on any of the Rise Accessibility docs remain as December 2020. I took a look at the roadmap link that was shared and was super disappointed to see that all Rise-related accessibility items that are outstanding are just listed as "planned", not even "in development"! These aren't just nice to have features, these are crucial features to ensuring proper access to Rise courses. I had thought Accessibility was a priority, but that seems to no longer be the case. Is there really nothing else currently in development for Rise other than quiz question banks?! Sure doesn't seem to be a whole lot to look forward to for the future of this product...
- EPDSPSCommunity Member
I agree with you Mark. It's hard to believe how long it is taking to have what seems like basic accessibility features available. I don't understand why blocks such as the flash cards and carousel still are only listed in the "planned" phase. These basic blocks are pretty crucial to creating engaging and interesting courses.
- MarkBanit-62dcfCommunity Member
Definitely. I don't get how this product wasn't just built with accessibility in mind from the start... it was launched in late 2016, and accessibility was a known requirement for man back then. Would have made things much easier than now trying to retrofit everything.
Based on all the simple (but crucial) enhancement requests filling these forums that are years old and still haven't been implemented, I can't say I have much faith that the critical outstanding accessibility issues will be addressed anytime soon. Hope they prove me wrong, but for some reason the development of this product moves at a snail's pace and they show very little interest fulfilling the requests of their customers.
- SharonEnglishCommunity Member
Hi Beth - I'm in the process of doing some extensive testing in this space using JAWS screen reader. I've created a sample course that basically includes all of the available RISE functionality and we're testing to see which functions are problematic. I know that, for example, the multi-response questions are not but the multiple choice are. Happy to share the results once I get them - hopefully, next week.
- BethCase-c92276Community Member
Fantastic! I would love to hear the results of your evaluation. beth.case@louisville.edu
- ShawnAbsolamCommunity Member
Hi Sharon - Do you have any results to share?
- AshleyHillCommunity Member
Good morning,
In September, we had an accessibility check conducted on one of our Rise courses. A number of issues were flagged, including in relation to colour contrast which I thought had been addressed. Some other issues include:
- colour contrast is fine for main text but is insufficient when it changes on mouse hover
- all pages are missing a page title
- sequence that screen readers read out content is often different from the visual presentation on the page
- links for screen readers directing to the wrong location (e.g. 'skip to main content' link directs to course menu, not main content)
- repetition in reading out some headings when using a screen reader
- screen reader links do not adequately describe their function (e.g. show/hide button reads out show/hide but does not explain what will be shown/hidden)
- no option to add alt text to logos
- screen readers cannot select radio buttons in multiple choice knowledge checks (pressing the space bar or enter key triggers the course menu button)
- radio buttons are too small
- quiz results are read multiple times when using a screen reader (e.g. "Your score Your score 47% Your score 47% 47%")
We love how simple it is to build beautiful, interactive courses in Rise, but like many others, if accessibility guidelines aren't met by the end of the year as promised, we're going to have to start using something like H5P instead.
I'd be happy to share the full accessibility report if that would be helpful. Our consultants have even explained how each issue can be fixed.
At some stage it would also be really useful if you could provide a list of which block types are accessible and which aren't (like H5P does: https://h5p.org/documentation/installation/content-type-accessibility)
Thank you.
Kind regards,
Ashley
- SibaPrasadPadhiCommunity Member
Good findings Ashley, in this area of accessibility this is one of the most important function to design a Training for specific audiences. Why is this taking more than 3 years to provide these important features as per the eLearning guidelines. Articulate should implement these on priority basis, as always the answer to this is not positive and the end user were suffering to consume the content designed with the tool. Can we have a specific guidelines how to use blocks supported for accessibility purpose. And why is its taking so much time to remove the lesson header/customization?
- MarvieYap-MuldeFormer Staff
Hi Ashley!
Thanks so much for taking the time to post the accessibility check that was conducted on one of your Rise courses. This is very useful and helpful information to us.
While Rise 360 courses are not officially WCAG 2.1 compliant, we have been working hard in this direction. That being said, I'd like to follow through with your feedback, starting with items I can address:
- All pages are missing a page title
- We do have titles for each page (lesson). You can easily verify this by looking at your browser tab. It will say your `CourseTitle - Lesson Title | Rise 360`. Our title is dynamically handled. You can check this in your browser's element inspector.
- Sequence that screen readers read out content is often different from the visual presentation on the page
- Yes, you may find in places such as Course Overview banner, or the Lesson header region, the announcement order may differ from the visual order (top to bottom) you see on your screen. For example, in Course Overview, it is announced in the following order: Course Title -> Author -> Start / Details button.
This is intentional. The order of the elements in which it is announced is based on its importance, when it is applicable. We wanted it to be more intuitive for screen reader users and make the experience more optimal and at par with the experience of sighted users as much as we can. Aside from the course title being the most important information in the page, it is also the first thing that catches your eyes. We want to give the same experience for people who are dependent on screen readers.
If you are referring to other places that doesn't make sense to you, please do let me know. I'll be more than happy to look in to it.
- Yes, you may find in places such as Course Overview banner, or the Lesson header region, the announcement order may differ from the visual order (top to bottom) you see on your screen. For example, in Course Overview, it is announced in the following order: Course Title -> Author -> Start / Details button.
- Screen readers cannot select radio buttons in multiple choice knowledge checks (pressing the space bar or enter key triggers the course menu button)
Quiz results are read multiple times when using a screen reader (e.g. "Your score Your score 47% Your score 47% 47%")- We recently addressed all accessibility issues for Knowledge Check and Quiz. These shouldn't be a problem anymore.
- Radio buttons are too small
- Radio buttons we use in Multiple Choice (Quiz & Knowledge Check) are of web standard size. You can check and compare it against radio buttons found in accessibility-focused websites such as www.webaim.org or https://www.w3.org/
And here are my follow-up questions for the remaining items to help me identify the problem:
- Links for screen readers directing to the wrong location (e.g. 'skip to main content' link directs to course menu, not main content)
- `Skip to lesson` link when activated should throw your screen reader focus to the Lesson content main region, particularly the hamburger menu since it's the first interactive element in the page. Is this not the case? What are the other links that goes to the wrong location and what are the steps to repro?
- Repetition in reading out some headings when using a screen reader
- What are these headings? Are they Lesson titles, or particular blocks? If you can give me more information, I'd be more than happy to look in to it.
- Screen reader links do not adequately describe their function (e.g. show/hide button reads out show/hide but does not explain what will be shown/hidden)
- Toggle buttons such as the hamburger menu that expands & collapse the sidebar, the section headers found on the side bar, the state of the accordion interaction, as examples, are all communicated meaningfully through a screen reader. May I ask what particular buttons that doesn't describe their function? I'm guessing that you may have encountered this in interactive blocks that are not particularly accessible for the time being.
Cheers!
Marvie- AshleyHillCommunity Member
Hi Marvie,
Thanks for responding to my post. It’s really great to see that Articulate is seriously addressing the community’s accessibility concerns. Other than the accessibility issues, we are really happy with Rise as an e-learning product. Our team had zero e-learning experience before we started working in Rise and yet it’s been so easy for us to build great looking e-learning courses.
One thing that would be really helpful in the interim, before you do comply with WCAG 2.1 AA, would be for you to provide a list of accessible and inaccessible block types. Sharon English provided a partial list, based on her experience, a couple of years ago: https://community.articulate.com/discussions/rise-360/rise-accessibility-features It would be incredibly useful if Rise could provide an updated list, based on your own testing. I know that we can build courses that are mostly accessible using Rise, we just need to know which block types to avoid. That said, we are really hoping to be able to use all block types in the future. The interactive block types are our favourites so we’re really hoping you can figure out a way to make them accessible.
I have sent an email with a detailed response to each of your responses above. Please email me directly if you have any questions/comments.
Kind regards,
Ashley
- All pages are missing a page title
- SharonEnglishCommunity Member
I wanted to share my win of the week. I work with a disability organisation and like Jim Larsen above, we are required to meet WCAG standards, and to do that we use a number of different authoring tools in our web and eLearning development. Despite Rise not being considered WCAG compliant, our accessibility testing has consistently returned a really low number of accessibility issues, which generally have come about as a result of design flaws.
The only slight challenges we've had to date has been the use of the Accordion interaction, labelled graphics and multi-select quiz questions (radio buttons are fine).
Clever, thoughtful design ahead of any development taking place, i.e. designing for accessibility first, really helps us avoid any potential issues (eg no drag and drop activities etc) - an approach we use regardless of tool.
- JosephWillis-daCommunity Member
Hello,
One option I am having to do is to have an accessible PDF version of the RISE course.
The document only had a few errors in Acrobats Accessibility testing, so I'm correcting some of those issues.
Has anyone else done this for their course in order to stay compliant?
Second Option:
Another option that seems to work well is to copy all text content into a .txt file. Screen reader seems to work very well with it.
Can someone else test this and confirm?
- DerelynBurnsCommunity Member
I was actually asked this week for an accessible version of a Rise course I had developed, I exported the course as a PDF and sent this to the person requesting an accessible version and she was very happy with the results. Until Rise becomes fully accessible I am exporting older Rise courses as PDFs and then adding these as an alt version on the same course page alongside the RISE package.
- JosephWillis-daCommunity Member
Thank you!
- AmandaHarveyCommunity Member
We've just started working on increasing the accessibility of our courses. Following this conversation over the past two years has:
1. Been discouraging regarding the amount of improvement coming from Articulate.
2. Been phenomenal in the amount of suggestions from USERS!
Hi there, everyone! Our team is working on a Voluntary Product Accessibility Template (VPAT) that details how Rise 360 aligns with every WCAG 2.1 standard. This document will be ready to share by the end of this month, and we'll post it here in this discussion first!
- EPDSPSCommunity Member
Looking forward to it, thank you!
- EmmaTranthamCommunity Member
Me too! Thanks!
- BhaveetRadia-7cCommunity Member
HI Alyssa, is this now ready to share? Very eager to see the results!