Forum Discussion
TAB order not working
My latest course is behaving funny. I have text boxes on the screen however no matter what I do, I cannot get the tab to go the boxes. I have ensured that the Accessible check box is selected but yet using the tab key only goes to the buttons on the page. I have tried deleting the text boxes and retyping and still the same thing. Never had an issue with this in the past.
Hi Rebecca,
You might be on an older version of Storyline 360, as we fixed keyboard accessibility for scrolling panels in Update 41! This discussion below provides more insight:
Hi Nilesh,
I'd like to have our support engineers take a closer look at your web object setup and work with you one-on-one. Can you please submit a support case here?
Hi Peter,
I'd love to help investigate this behavior!
Check out this quick video demo of my test with a Storyline 3 Update 10 slide and JAWS version 2020.2004.66: The tab order defined controls the reading order of text for screen readers. I also used the Down and Up arrows to move through the text and interactive objects on the slide, listening to each item along the way.
For more info on the latest accessibility enhancements in Storyline 3, check out this resource:
If your experience is different, are you comfortable with sharing the file for testing? You can use this upload link to share it privately.
Katie, I have some questions in regards to the Tab order. We have question slides that become difficult for a user to understand when they only use the tab key. Since the tab key does not read the text it skips over the question itself and goes right to the answer options. If the user is using the tab key they would not have context on how to answer the question. Is this expected when using the tab key? Should a user only use the up and down arrow in keys in this case and never use the tab key? Is there anyway currently to make text elements also be accessed using the tab key?
Hi Jeremy,
That's correct; using the up and down arrow keys will allow the learner to scroll through the slide content in a question slide, including the text. Using the tab key will only scroll to interactive objects on the slide. This article on navigating multiple-choice slides shares the expected behavior:
There's no way to make all elements accessible using the tab key as it is tedious and not in line with how accessible learners are experiencing other web content. The article Katie shared above covers how navigation is utilized today by both screen-reader and keyboard-only users:
I hope this helps!
How are interactive elements identified within Storyline? I have a text box with a trigger on it to move the next slide but it is not accessible in the Tab order, just the focus order.
Hi John,
The Focus Order window controls the tab order of interactive objects, such as buttons and markers, and the reading order for non-interactive objects, such as text and images.
Storyline 360: Customizing the Focus Order of Slide Objects
It sounds like you've added a trigger, but you cannot access it via the keyboard? We would certainly want to take a look at that. Please share your project file publicly here or send it to me privately by uploading it here. I'll delete it when troubleshooting is complete.
" Correct - Rectangle 3 ..." and "Wrong - Rectangle 2" both have triggers on them and are not tabbable but are within the focus order
Hi, John.
Thank you for opening a support case! I see that you're working with Lianne, so you're in great hands!
Please reach out through the case if you have additional questions.
Hi Leslie and Maria (recent staff to comment here). I appreciate that John is solving a problem and has gotten a support case going, but can one of you commit to sharing the resolution here? It would be helpful to know. I ask because in the past I have seen a few threads that stop with a "great you filed a case..." but it would have been helpful to hear of solutions :)
The issue was the linked items were groups. Once I changed them to a single item they appeared in the tab order. In other words, Storyline does not support groups as interactive objects within the tab order but I believe they do appear in the focus order.
Ah, thanks for the update John, much appreciated!
