Forum Discussion
Rise 360 Accessibility Updates
We are excited to share our Rise 360 Accessibility Collection!
In this collection, you'll find the Rise 360 Accessibility Conformance Report (VPAT®) used to describe how Rise 360 conforms to WCAG 2.1 Level AA criteria.
You'll also find updates on our Accessibility Journey that includes details on screen reader support!
Finally, we updated our roadmap to include Rise 360 features we’re continuing to develop to better support WCAG.
Please share your questions and experiences building accessible courses for all in the comments below!
Hi Rebecca! Microsoft Edge read-aloud function is not a supported screen reader for Rise 360. You can try using any of the supported screen readers in the list provided by Alyssa. If you still see the problem when you're using a supported screen reader, let us know here so we can take a closer look.
Hi! I have checked it in VoiceOver on my Mac, and the alt text for the images in the carousel do not work here either. It is also reading out the body text line by line rather than as a paragraph, so it stops mid sentence and resumes as if there is a full stop at the end of every line.
Hi Rebecca!
I was wondering how you are navigating to the content body using Voice Over. Here's a short recording I made to demonstrate that Voice over reads all the elements it focuses on, as well as the alternative text for the image in my carousel:
https://360.articulate.com/review/content/6c818006-298f-499f-bda3-5d5c4ea0e6a5/review
In regards to MS Edge's `Read Aloud` feature, as far as I understand, it is designed to only read text out loud, so it will never announce the alternative text of the images. On the other hand, it should announce the caption that you set. It works pretty well with other image blocks, but it seems to skip the caption in an image carousel.
That being said, all carousel interaction types, such as image carousel, process, and quote carousels, are not 100% WCAG 2.1 compliant yet. Accessibility support is not currently optimal but this will be worked on. While we are officially supporting Voice Over + Safari, JAWS + Edge/Chrome, and NVDA + Firefox, I don't see a reason why `Read Aloud` wouldn't read the caption text. Will keep this in mind as we continue optimising accessibility in our carousel interactions.
Hi Marvie,
Thanks for the video - I was testing my course using preview rather than publishing it to review... the alt text is now read out by Voice Over, and also by the Speak Aloud function on my mac.
It would be great if the text on the carousel could be made selectable so that it can be read by a clip board reader like Edge. Is this something that will happen quickly? Or is there a different PC compatible clip board reader we could recommend?I didn't realise that the carousel interactions were not accessible (and I can hear on my Voice Over test that there is no audible prompt to scroll through the carousel). Do you have a handy list of supported and unsupported interactions in Rise?
Whilst I was testing using the Speak Aloud function, I also tried it with a Storyline course. None of the text in Storyline is read aloud, unless I use Voice Over. Are there any plans to make the on screen text in Storyline accessible by a clip board reader? (we have users with issues like dyslexia who do not need a screen reader, but need the on screen text read out to them)
Hi Rebecca,
You can also just use the course share link to quickly test the course on a screen reader or Speak aloud, vs. doing it in Preview or publishing to Review. I'm glad to hear that your alternative text are now being read. I'm afraid I couldn't give a timeframe on carousel works though.
For interactions that are not 100% WCAG compliant, Drag & Drop interaction type, carousel types are what comes to mind, but our feature roadmap should have the list. Our VPAT should also have the information how our interactions supports the success criteria.
For Storyline, I would recommend reaching out to our tech support so they can have a look.
cheers!
Hello! I received this comment from a JAWS tester after completing a Rise knowledge check question. "After answering a question, the response "Correct" appears on the screen. However, focus is not set to it, and if I hit the arrow down key, focus is at the bottom of the page. I have to use the arrow up key to get to the new content that appears after answering a question." There is a fair amount of content below this question that I'm not at liberty to rearrange. Can anyone help?
We have the same problem too. We also have an issue where the submit button change state which does not comply with color contrast.
Accordion with + signs do not work so I use tab feature instead. The same issue with flip card because of the flip symbol there.
We need to addresses these issues.
Hi there,
With the new release of the accessibility AA rating, could you please confirm if all blocks within Rise are to this standard or only certain blocks. I suspect some of the activity drag/drop blocks may not comply? If not all blocks are to AA rating, could you please confirm which ones are not?
Thanks!
My understanding is although Rise is accessible, it is just a partial accessible. Many of the blocks are still in planning stage of accessibility:
https://articulate.com/support/article/Articulate-360-Feature-Roadmap
I am assuming if not on this list, the rest 'may' be accessible now? I have not tested myself.
Hi Jeff,
Yes that is correct. The rest of the blocks are WCAG 2.1 compliant.Cheers!
Marvie
Please can someone from Articulate confirm that the new features will apply to an existing course if I re-publish it.
Hello,
Could Articulate confirm that Rise 360 courses simply need to be republished to have the new accessibility features available? (At least for all the blocks currently supported at the time of publishing.)
Thank you! Stephanie
Hi Stephanie! Yes, to take full advantage of the accessibility changes we have made over the past several months, you'll want to republish your Rise 360 content.
Request for Team Articulate:
As I was reading through the Rise accessibility-related pages on your site, I noticed that there are quite a few text contrast issues on the site itself. I understand that muted/pastel colors have been part of the "look" of Articulate and its products for a long time, but I'm wondering if Articulate would consider rebranding/re-coloring your customer-facing website to meet WCAG standards? Particularly on pages discussing accessibility features (but on all pages, really). Thank you in advance for considering this request.
Hi there, Liz. We're working on making the entire Articulate web experience accessible. Check out our statement here.
We are committed to continually improving access to all of our services -- thanks for keeping us accountable!
Hi Alyssa. For the Text on Image image type, can you tell me if the screenreader will read the text? Or should I provide alt text? Thanks!
Hi Claire! Great questions!
Yes, the screen reader will read the text of a Text on Image block.
Please note:- The positioning of the text will affect the order if it's read first or last depending on if it's on the left or right of the image, respectively.
- Even with text content, the screen reader will still look for alt text for the image.
- If there are images in these blocks that don’t have alt text, screen readers ignore the tag and just announce them as images or read the file name.
If you don't want them to be announced as just "Image" or the "filename", please provide alt text to describe the image properly.
Hope that helps!
Thanks Renz. That's very helpful. And if I want the screen reader to ignore an image (or, e.g., a gif) I just enter "" into the alt text field right? Two double quotes, no spaces?
Correct Claire, that should make the screenreader ignore the image and not read any alt text or the image name.
