Storyline 360 - Tab order resets when a slide layer is shown or hidden.

Looks like that video didn't load properly. Here it is again: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_OuP-jovOR0

Hi Douglas!

I'd love for our team to look at these videos as this is their area of expertise! The best way to do this is by using a support case so we can have more eyes on the project.

I want you to have the opportunity to share whichever files you're experiencing issues with as well as screen recordings of the issues in action. Here's a private upload link for you to start a case and share files. After taking a look, our team will continue communication in the support case!

Thank you so much for bringing these to our attention!

Hi Jason,

Thanks for letting us know that you're experiencing similar behavior. 

I took a look and I do not see where Douglas shared any files with our support team, so I do not have any additional information to share.

With your permission, I'd like you to share your project file with our support engineers to investigate what's happening. You can share it privately by uploading it here. It will be deleted when troubleshooting is complete.

Hi Leslie,

How odd. I filed a report, Case #02323169, so hopefully that helps you track down those files, in additions to the ones I've posted earlier in this thread which also exhibit this behavior.

Thanks,

Doug

Ah, not so odd after all Douglas. I appreciate you sharing your support case number. I was able to see the case where you are working with Robert. It looks like you have a couple of e-mails and that's how I missed it. Thanks for making the connection for me.

I was informed by Articulate staff that SL360 version 3.44 and its Focus Order enhancement might fix the issue I was describing of screen reader focus going to an unpredictable spot when a layer is closed, so I wanted to chime in with my initial findings.

Unfortunately, the issue does not appear to have been addressed; I'm still experiencing what I described previously with NVDA, JAWS 2018 and JAWS 2020. JAWS 2020 offers the "best" user experience in that focus always goes back to the slide start, and while that's far from ideal, at least its predictable and consistent; unfortunately though, very few individuals within our user community have JAWS 2020 (NVDA is, by far, the most commonly used screen reader).

I'm also noticing that NVDA is calling some non-interactive elements "clickable" and that JAWS 2020 seems to be reading what I think is the default alt text for an image that was added through Background Styles in Slide Master, but I'm not sure if these are new to this version. That NVDA behavior seems familiar and I don't think I've previously tested, with JAWS 2020, a SL360 course that had an image added that way.

Hello Douglas and Jason,

Great news!  We just released another update for Articulate 360 and included a few important fixes you'll see in the release notes. 

The item you'll be interested in is:

Fixed: When using a screen reader, the focus order didn't always follow the correct path for slides with layers.

Just launch the Articulate 360 desktop app on your computer and click the Update button for Storyline 360. Details here.

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

Unfortunately I am experiencing this issue as well.  When testing for screen reader, we use JAWS and our recommended browser is Chrome.

This doesn't happen all of the time, but it does happen most of the time.

Essentially what is happening is when a button is clicked, and that button either disappears or becomes disabled (this includes the layer the button is on hides), the focus goes back to the beginning of the focus order.

I am using the current JAWS, Chrome and Storyline.

Please let me know the status of this issue.

Hi Steven! 

I apologize for the issues you are experiencing with the focus order reverting to the beginning when using JAWS sometimes in Storyline. 

Are you working from the latest version of Storyline? The current is Build 3.63.27674.0. 

It would be helpful if we could take a look at your project file by opening a case with one of our support engineers. We will delete it from our systems when troubleshooting is complete. 

I'm seeing this issue too. This is a fairly recent issue that is breaking the accessibility for screen readers. We used to be able to use layers and order them in the focus order like this:

• Base: Button 01 (opens layer 01)
• Layer 01 (close layer 01, and use down arrow to get to the next element, Button 02).
• Base: Button 02
• Layer 02

We were able to order the focus order as such, and the screen reader would return to the next element in the order, but now, as the post above says, more often than not, the screen reader is directed to the top of the slide and the user must navigate through the slide contents again to get to the next element in the focus order.

Is this something the engineers are aware of and working on? SL courses aren't going to pass accessibility testing using the method I've outlined above.

Thanks all.