As mentioned on the website under FAQ for Rise "Are Rise courses compliant with accessibility guidelines? Rise employs many modern web standards for accessibility, and additional accessibility improvements are in development."
Could you please specify in detail which of these are supported in current version: WCAG AA, WAI-ARIA Labels, Section 508, DDA, Equality Act and Screen Reader Supports.
This is the position we are in as well. We cannot use any of the wonderful new features in Rise until this issue is addressed. You are losing market share by not prioritizing the accessibility features of Rise and anything else you produce. This is not an isolated requirement. It is not going away anytime soon, and will continue to be an issue for any organization that accepts federal funding (which most universities and colleges do in the form of federal financial aid).
Thank you for posting this. I’m not sure private sector is dealing with this like higher ed. Everything I do has to be done through the accessibility filter.
Prioritisation of accessibility features in Rise takes precedence over feature updates from my POV. Fingers crossed we get some movement soon or an ETA on when accessibility will be addressed.
The age of this thread should tell you something about how Articulate prioritizes accessibility.
I’ve filed at least ten accessibility issues with Storyline. Each time a support person would let me know that it’s a high priority for them and they’ll let me know when it’s been resolved. Each release, I check the release notes hoping *something* has been addressed. To date, none of my accessibility issues have been resolved. It’s difficult to conclude anything other than accessibility is one of Articulate’s lowest priorities.
That said, I just evaluated six other authoring tools and I only found one that was really doing a good job of allowing designers to build WCAG 2.0 AA courses.
Not sure if it’s going to be litigation or legislation that drives adoption, but I really hope something changes for the sake of the learners who need accessible training.
We are in a position where we cannot use Rise, and increasingly Storyline as we are unable to comply fully with accessibility legislation. The updated WCAG 2.1 standards for example states that content must reflow and be readable at a resolution of 320px.. I.e mobiles. As much as I enjoy using Storyline, and it’s a great tool, neither Storyline or Rise can fully meet the standards. The WCAG 2.1 standards must now by complied with by law for almost all public sector organisations in Europe, and the UK has similar legislation in place despite Brexit. Other than going down a fully bespoke build route, only one authoring tool which I’ve come across can meet the WCAG 2.1 criteria to a good standard.
Thanks for the info. We can’t author in Rise because of accessibility. This and variable speed playback, which is related to accessibility, are two features that need to updated asap. It may not be the flashiest update, but it is the right thing to do. Litigation is driving US universities to adopt, but that should be beside the point. The stock responses for over five years is disheartening. Will look into H5P. Thanks for the info!
Hey Ross, can you say more about this? All, don't want to knock down Rise, though. They're trying and I appreciate this community's effort to keep them accountable for their continued efforts and work.
Good point, Andrew. I think Articulate's a great company and I've used and liked Storyline/Rise for a long time. For me, it's just the accessibility aspect that's really frustrating.
Don't specifically want to talk about other tools on here, but in my experience with Adapt, it's been really good for accessibility. It's definitely more complicated than Rise though, and we have had our in house tech team install it on a server for us. Screen reader support is very good, offers skip navigation links, aria - support, semantically correct coded buttons, interactions work well (assuming you don't use drag and drop for example). As with Rise, it's important that the author considers language, text size, colour etc. Theirs no focus traps, support for captioning, inline transcripts etc. We've used Adapt successfully with high profile charities for those with sight loss in the UK.
I want to be able to use Rise, the content it produces visually looks really good and it's easy to use. Quick and efficient. It's however, unfortunately, the case that accessibility aspects are letting it down.
Articulate has been giving us the same tired response for years now on accessibility. "We are working on it" is not a sufficient answer. The company clearly does not understand the urgency and need for educational and government customers and they are clearly not working fast to address issues raised by customers when Rise was initially released.
Agreed. I have taken to replying every time they post anything about a new
feature in Rise that "This is nice and all, but we cannot and will not use
Rise until they are fully accessible. Articulate must prioritize
accessibility"
As my subscription nears its renewal date, I am having serious second
thoughts about any further time and financial investment in the products of
a company that does not make accessibility a real priority as evidenced by
meaningful and consistent action.
Hi there - requisite quarterly check in on Rise accessibility here. Any movement on this? Are you able to give the community a ballpark estimate for becoming fully accessible? If not a deadline, can you give some current insight into the specific accessibility projects you are working on?
Thanks so much - appreciate anything you can share with us!
Looking forward to seeing some accessibility updates.
When we subscribed we were told that accessibility was a priority and we could expect changes "next quarter". All of the updates have been disappointing and it seems that the story is always "next quarter". It feels like we have been strung along here for at least the last year.
Since we have been strung along for so long, at this point the only thing that I would find reassuring would be a timeline for when each accessibility features will be released. Anything less at this point would just be taken to be another empty promise.
We like using Rise, and would like to continue, but can't continue to use it unless things improve for our learners with visual impairments.
Boosting this comment. Rise has many advantages for rapid building, but none meet standards if accessibility is not top of mind as a consideration for inclusive learning. I'm frustrated that Rise accessibility doesn't seem to be more of a priority for Articulate to address and that even small fixes like more visible buttons/fonts etc. keep getting sidelined.
342 Replies
This is the position we are in as well. We cannot use any of the wonderful new features in Rise until this issue is addressed. You are losing market share by not prioritizing the accessibility features of Rise and anything else you produce. This is not an isolated requirement. It is not going away anytime soon, and will continue to be an issue for any organization that accepts federal funding (which most universities and colleges do in the form of federal financial aid).
Thank you for posting this. I’m not sure private sector is dealing with this like higher ed. Everything I do has to be done through the accessibility filter.
Speaking from the private sector....we also cannot use Rise until accessibility is available. Please prioritize this!
Hi Mike. Just following up on progress towards full screen reader support for Rise, as per your post one year ago.
Thanks
Prioritisation of accessibility features in Rise takes precedence over feature updates from my POV. Fingers crossed we get some movement soon or an ETA on when accessibility will be addressed.
The age of this thread should tell you something about how Articulate prioritizes accessibility.
I’ve filed at least ten accessibility issues with Storyline. Each time a support person would let me know that it’s a high priority for them and they’ll let me know when it’s been resolved. Each release, I check the release notes hoping *something* has been addressed. To date, none of my accessibility issues have been resolved. It’s difficult to conclude anything other than accessibility is one of Articulate’s lowest priorities.
That said, I just evaluated six other authoring tools and I only found one that was really doing a good job of allowing designers to build WCAG 2.0 AA courses.
Not sure if it’s going to be litigation or legislation that drives adoption, but I really hope something changes for the sake of the learners who need accessible training.
I'd be curious to know which one you found was doing a good job in the WCAG arena.
We are in a position where we cannot use Rise, and increasingly Storyline as we are unable to comply fully with accessibility legislation. The updated WCAG 2.1 standards for example states that content must reflow and be readable at a resolution of 320px.. I.e mobiles. As much as I enjoy using Storyline, and it’s a great tool, neither Storyline or Rise can fully meet the standards. The WCAG 2.1 standards must now by complied with by law for almost all public sector organisations in Europe, and the UK has similar legislation in place despite Brexit. Other than going down a fully bespoke build route, only one authoring tool which I’ve come across can meet the WCAG 2.1 criteria to a good standard.
Which authoring tool did a good job with accessibility?
Thanks!
H5P
Interesting! I used their Moodle plugin recently.
Thanks for the info.
Thanks for the info. We can’t author in Rise because of accessibility. This and variable speed playback, which is related to accessibility, are two features that need to updated asap. It may not be the flashiest update, but it is the right thing to do. Litigation is driving US universities to adopt, but that should be beside the point. The stock responses for over five years is disheartening. Will look into H5P. Thanks for the info!
Adapt Authoring Framework - v4 release is good for accessibility.
https://www.trivantis.com/press/trivantis-leads-the-charge-for-compliance-with-wcag-2-0-aa-standards/
Hey Ross, can you say more about this? All, don't want to knock down Rise, though. They're trying and I appreciate this community's effort to keep them accountable for their continued efforts and work.
Good point, Andrew. I think Articulate's a great company and I've used and liked Storyline/Rise for a long time. For me, it's just the accessibility aspect that's really frustrating.
Hi Andrew,
Don't specifically want to talk about other tools on here, but in my experience with Adapt, it's been really good for accessibility. It's definitely more complicated than Rise though, and we have had our in house tech team install it on a server for us. Screen reader support is very good, offers skip navigation links, aria - support, semantically correct coded buttons, interactions work well (assuming you don't use drag and drop for example). As with Rise, it's important that the author considers language, text size, colour etc. Theirs no focus traps, support for captioning, inline transcripts etc. We've used Adapt successfully with high profile charities for those with sight loss in the UK.
I want to be able to use Rise, the content it produces visually looks really good and it's easy to use. Quick and efficient. It's however, unfortunately, the case that accessibility aspects are letting it down.
With the EU Web Accessibility Directive https://siteimprove.com/en-gb/accessibility/eu-web-accessibility-directive/ coming into force in September it's increasingly becoming a top priority.
Yah, understood. I imagine Articulate folk are aware of it and working fast. Thanks for explaining! And thanks, Erich!
Articulate has been giving us the same tired response for years now on accessibility. "We are working on it" is not a sufficient answer. The company clearly does not understand the urgency and need for educational and government customers and they are clearly not working fast to address issues raised by customers when Rise was initially released.
Agreed. I have taken to replying every time they post anything about a new
feature in Rise that "This is nice and all, but we cannot and will not use
Rise until they are fully accessible. Articulate must prioritize
accessibility"
*Eleanor Patat Cotton*
Director of Production Technology & Training
*Learning AllyTM*
eCotton@LearningAlly.org
Office: 706-363-9981
320 South Hull S., Athens, GA 30605
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Seriously, though, I hope this mini-revolution provokes something beyond the obligatory "we're working on it" type of response.
As my subscription nears its renewal date, I am having serious second
thoughts about any further time and financial investment in the products of
a company that does not make accessibility a real priority as evidenced by
meaningful and consistent action.
Hi there - requisite quarterly check in on Rise accessibility here. Any movement on this? Are you able to give the community a ballpark estimate for becoming fully accessible? If not a deadline, can you give some current insight into the specific accessibility projects you are working on?
Thanks so much - appreciate anything you can share with us!
Ashley Green
Looking forward to seeing some accessibility updates.
When we subscribed we were told that accessibility was a priority and we could expect changes "next quarter". All of the updates have been disappointing and it seems that the story is always "next quarter". It feels like we have been strung along here for at least the last year.
Since we have been strung along for so long, at this point the only thing that I would find reassuring would be a timeline for when each accessibility features will be released. Anything less at this point would just be taken to be another empty promise.
We like using Rise, and would like to continue, but can't continue to use it unless things improve for our learners with visual impairments.
Boosting this comment. Rise has many advantages for rapid building, but none meet standards if accessibility is not top of mind as a consideration for inclusive learning. I'm frustrated that Rise accessibility doesn't seem to be more of a priority for Articulate to address and that even small fixes like more visible buttons/fonts etc. keep getting sidelined.