tutorial on 508 compliance?

I just read the list of 508 abilities in Storyline. One item reads:    "Give learners a way to skip repetitive navigation links."

Can anyone direct me to examples of how to do this?

Thanks.

Yes - that would be nice! Still eagerly awaiting a good tutorial on how to make storyline content 508 compliant.

I'm working on a sample for 508 compliance and have a question about how the tabs work. In the published file uploaded below, is there a way to make the tabs keep moving forward and down to the navigation buttons after the user selects a response and reads the feedback without continuing to go back up to the top? I have made some of the content invisible to the reader, thanks to one of Jeannette's tutorials but is there a way to make something invisible the second time through? I would think the navigation on this slide would be confusing.

Hi, Jon -

That's a tough one. I think the order resets when a new object is shown and the tab order around the edge is a little goofy and unpredictable. One way to help is to build some keyboard navigation into your slide master using key triggers (Jump to slide > next slide > When user presses a key > Right). That way there's a convenient way for the user (including fully physically capable folks) to use convenient navigation using the keyboard.

The other way you might be able to get around this is by putting next / back navigation off the stage to the right of your interaction. Since tab order goes left to right from top to bottom you can leverage the mechanic by placing navigation elements specifically for use by keyboard tabbers off of the slide. By adding this to your slide master it could minimize pain of adding these to every slide.

Using this same mechanic you could skip over repeat links by adding slide level buttons at the top of the slide, just out of view.

Hope this helps,

Steve

Thanks a lot, Steve. I set the right and left arrows as navigational tools on the keyboard, on the master slide view. This works really well. I just have to let the user know this on the first slide.

Now I have a new wrinkle. I'll attach a snip of the problem. It's a question slide with two choices. The second choice is located right next to the first so I would have thought the tab cursor would go there next but it goes back up to the top of the screen and reads the instructions again, then back to the first choice and finally to the second choice. I don't see a way to hide the instructions after it reads them once. Maybe i need another layer with the second choice only and no instructions. I'm starting to confuse myself now.

Here's another problem I'm finding. When the correct/incorrect feedback appears and I use the tab keyboard key to navigate around the slide, the yellow highlight (indicating this will be seen by the screenreader) goes to the entire feedback box, then the first line of writing, then the straight line that is part of the feedback box, then any text below the line. I can make any of the text invisible to the reader but is there a way to not have it pick up the line that's part of the feedback box? It is not separate and I can't make it invisible as far as  can tell

Thanks.

Hey Jon! That line is coming from the Slide Master. You can click View>Feedback Master and go to the topmost slide (which contains the line). Then you can select the line and use the Size and Position Window to turn off visibility to screen readers. 

Thanks, Jeanette! That worked great. I was also able to make the feedback "box" invisible to a screen reader so the tab key will skip right over the shape and the reader will read just the feedback text and the "continue" button.

Now, next question...and this may be something basic that I missed. There is no sound when the user clicks the continue button on the feedback screen or the "next' button on any slide. I'm not sure how the unsighted person will know they have actually clicked a button and that they should use the tab key again to "read" the feedback. Is there an option to add mouse or keyboard sounds?  Maybe I have something turned off that I need to toggle back on.

Thanks

Hi Paul - if you have audio narration at the beginning of each slide and/or feedback layer, that could be sufficient to signal to a non-sighted learner that a new slide has started. If not, you could always go into your Slide Master view and insert a very short sound effect at the beginning of the slide master  timeline, as a visual cue to the learner that the slide has transitioned. You could do the same on the Feedback Masters, as these are used for the feedback layers that display after the learners submit an answer to a question.

I'm still wrestling with 508 and trying to make notes and pull together a list of things I can do to satisfy state and federal clients. However, it would be much better to have a tutorial on how to use all the available options in Storyline to make a compliant course...even  just the basics of 508 would be a place to start.

Jeanette, how about it? Your tutorials are always well thought-out, logical and easy to follow.

With funding issues at all levels, many state and federal agencies will probably be turning to internal staff or freelancers to create cost-effective e-learning courses....but they will have to be 508 compliant. Your staff would not only be helping all of us in this 508 boat, but probably expanding your customer base as well.

If anyone else has a tutorial or even a document listing the applications and steps to take to make such a course, please let us know. Meanwhile, I'll keep hoping that Jeanette or one of the other gurus comes through for us.

Thanks.

Jon