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
Just jumping on to be alerted as well when there are any new Rise accessibility features added.
We are still waiting for developments in the Rise accessibility.
Does anybody add a comment on their Rise course alerting about accessibility standards to alert the user?
It's great to see that Rise is working on becoming more accessible! This is timely, as we were about to abandon use of it for this reason!
I noticed more keyboard features than before so I looked into it and found this article https://articulate.com/support/article/Rise-Keyboard-Accessible-Navigation . I don't have JAWS installed right now for testing, but can I assume that a screen reader reads the text as it is 'tabbed-to'? What about the body text and headings? It doesn't appear to function the way Storyline does in that the in-focus element is visible when using the keyboard so I can't anticipate what the screen reader will be reading in the same way that I can with Storyline. It appears as though it isn't possible to tab to the body text or header - just images and interactive elements. Does that mean that body text won't be read by a screen-reader?
Hi Fiona,
Rise 360 doesn't have full screen reader support just yet, but we're working on it! We'll let you know when that's ready.
Is there any rough timeline around screen reader support (weeks, months, years, etc.) This has become a priority for my organization and knowing even a rough ballpark will be the deciding factor in whether we can use Rise or not. Thanks,
I am interested in finding out as activities/blocks in Rise are made accessible. Thanks.
since it has been a while, I'm wondering if naviation buttons will ever become accessible by readers, right now I cannot use the continue nor buttons stack blocks, thank you
Hey there, Mylene. We are working toward full screen reader support of Rise 360 content. I can't be specific about a timeline, but you'll be notified by email if we post new information here!
Hi Paula,
While our ultimate goal is to meet Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG), we're not there yet. As we move closer towards that goal, we'll share updates in this discussion.
Hi Alyssa,
As has been mentioned elsewhere in this thread, is there any chance of Articulate hosting a Rise Accessibility focused workshop/webinar to help your paying userbase understand best practices given the current state of Rise functionality? Which is to say, we understand that Rise is not 100% accessible at this moment (as an example, drag and drop will likely never be accessible), but how do we best use Rise as it stands today?
My impression is that if we (as developers) create content in Rise carefully we can actually create adequately accessible content, avoiding the use of certain features and making sure to use others properly. Now, that might not be perfectly true in the case of all screen-readers, etc., but it is likely close enough. One of the beautiful things about Rise is that, from a user perspective, all we have to do is re-open an asset and republish to once any future accessibility updates are released from Articulate. Tips like that would give us the confidence we need to continue considering Rise for development purposes.
Does Articulate have an accessibility/compliance specialist? Most of us have felt a bit like we're swimming in the dark for the past year or two. Thanks for considering.
Yes, please do this!
I think its a little bit of trial and error for us. For example, some things work well with the screenreader JAWS, but not with screenreaders that are built into the OS.
In the spirit of sharing, I would point out that there are accessible drag and drop activities out there in the wild. I made this a feature request for RISE, so I remain hopeful.
I'm wondering if another possible workaround might be to branch off into an adapted version of the course and import storyline blocks only to ensure it's accessible? As I understand it, Storyline is fully accessible and WCAG compliant so you could just use storyline blocks in that branch of the course and it would be considered accessible? Anyone try this? Thanks!
Any success in screen reader support and what is the steps to access the blocks for Jaws screen reader, any document Articulate could provide?
Hi there, SibaPrasad. No update for screen reader support yet. We're shooting for the end of this year!
Hello Crystal, do you have an updated estimate for screenreader support?
Following. This is so important and I'm not using RISE as much as I would like to until it is addressed. Thanks to everyone who added some great ideas that will hold me over for a little bit longer.
