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.
At this stage, we are only using Storyline 3, although even that is limited in terms of meeting accessibility requirements, and the number of clients we are using this with is becoming more limited due to stricter accessibility requirements. Until such times as Rise is fully committed to meeting WCAG 2.1 AA standard, and there is a clear pathway for support, then we will not be able to take out a subscription for Articulate 360 at this time. This is unfortunate as there are clear benefits to the rapid authoring capabilities of Rise for certain projects.
Is it a legal requirement that University Websites are accessible?
Yes, it is. Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act (“Title II”) and Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 (“Section 504”) require that public universities provide qualified individuals with disabilities equal access to their programs, services, and activities unless doing so would fundamentally alter the nature of their programs, services, or activities or would impose an undue burden. As part of that obligation, public universities are required to provide equally effective communication to persons with disabilities, regardless of whether the university generally communicates through print media, audio media, or computerized media such as the Internet. Universities that use the Internet for communication regarding their programs, goods, and services must make that information accessible.
I apologize if our responses feel redundant, but we're not quite ready to release new accessibility features. These features are of the highest priority for our users, so please know we're hard at work to get them in your hands as soon as we can. We will let you know when there's more to share.
The challenge/frustration is that this is not a new discussion. If you look at the initial start of this conversation, it was nearly three years ago. If you scroll through the 12 pages of responses, you will see that there are messages that indicate suggestions that there updates are imminent (I seem to recall an early on reply that suggested Q1 2017).
You, along with other staff members have indicated that this is the highest user priority - but where is this in the priorities for the development teams for articulate?
I know you say that more information will be shared when there's more to share, but this seems to have been the standard message for nearly 3 years now.
Echoing the concerns around timeline. We are in a position where we need to know when we will see real solutions. We can manage a timeline, even a long timeline. We have a harder time managing uncertainty.
With uncertainty, we need to start looking at other authoring platforms.
This is becoming more and more important for me as well. I have just run the Chrome Extension and seen how much needs adding that cannot be controlled through RISE or even through manipulating the code that comes out of the exported SCORM package.
As a part of the accessibility question, please consider the color contrast ratios of the modern players. One place where this is a problem is the Next and Back buttons. The minor shades of difference between an active Next button and one that is not yet active is not strong enough of a contrast to be easily discernable.
Hi there. Quick update about Rise 360 accessibility! While we can’t share more specifics on timing and the order of features yet, our end goal is to get Rise 360 output WCAG 2.1 compliant by the end of 2020.
To help us get it right, we’ve hired Deque, a leader in digital accessibility, to perform a 3rd party audit for Rise 360 so we have an accurate and comprehensive list of items to tackle. We’ve also dedicated developers to own accessibility on Rise 360 long term.
As we have more details and updates, we will most certainly share here with all of you!
Thanks for the update, Alyssa. Glad Deque is partnering with you...they are really good in this field. Are you targeting any specific screen readers? NVDA and JAWS provide very different experiences with "accessible" Storyline. I'm curious if there will be a similar gap in learner experience for Rise.
Cautiously optimistic, and hoping that the effort will be complete - no workarounds, or excessive work to develop content so that it's usable, functionality that needs to be avoided, etc. Not meaning to rain on anyone's parade, but Storyline is advertised as "accessible", but it's unnecessarily difficult to build accessible content in the tool. (more details at https://kylemackie.wordpress.com/2019/09/26/im-worried-that-your-awesome-storyline-presentation-is-actually-inaccessible/).
Cool, I'll start using it in 2020 then. Until that time it's just going to be the 10000 accessibility workarounds I've had to figure out for Storyline.
342 Replies
At this stage, we are only using Storyline 3, although even that is limited in terms of meeting accessibility requirements, and the number of clients we are using this with is becoming more limited due to stricter accessibility requirements. Until such times as Rise is fully committed to meeting WCAG 2.1 AA standard, and there is a clear pathway for support, then we will not be able to take out a subscription for Articulate 360 at this time. This is unfortunate as there are clear benefits to the rapid authoring capabilities of Rise for certain projects.
Our organization would echo those sentiments. We need a timeline to share with stakeholders. We need delivery on the promises made.
Is it a legal requirement that University Websites are accessible?
Yes, it is. Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act (“Title II”) and Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 (“Section 504”) require that public universities provide qualified individuals with disabilities equal access to their programs, services, and activities unless doing so would fundamentally alter the nature of their programs, services, or activities or would impose an undue burden. As part of that obligation, public universities are required to provide equally effective communication to persons with disabilities, regardless of whether the university generally communicates through print media, audio media, or computerized media such as the Internet. Universities that use the Internet for communication regarding their programs, goods, and services must make that information accessible.
Could be a bigger issue soon: https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/courts_law/do-protections-for-people-with-disabilities-apply-online-dominos-asks-high-court/2019/07/20/984c685e-a7fd-11e9-a3a6-ab670962db05_story.html
I do love Rise, but to sound like a broken records here, are there any update on the accessibility requirements?
Hi Aaron,
Hi Alyssa
The challenge/frustration is that this is not a new discussion. If you look at the initial start of this conversation, it was nearly three years ago. If you scroll through the 12 pages of responses, you will see that there are messages that indicate suggestions that there updates are imminent (I seem to recall an early on reply that suggested Q1 2017).
You, along with other staff members have indicated that this is the highest user priority - but where is this in the priorities for the development teams for articulate?
I know you say that more information will be shared when there's more to share, but this seems to have been the standard message for nearly 3 years now.
Can you share an ETA?
Echoing the concerns around timeline. We are in a position where we need to know when we will see real solutions. We can manage a timeline, even a long timeline. We have a harder time managing uncertainty.
With uncertainty, we need to start looking at other authoring platforms.
This is becoming more and more important for me as well. I have just run the Chrome Extension and seen how much needs adding that cannot be controlled through RISE or even through manipulating the code that comes out of the exported SCORM package.
Adding a feature request now.
Steve out of curiosity what extension did you use to assess accessibility?
@Aaron Accessibility Insights for Web. You can get it here:
https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/accessibility-insights-fo/pbjjkligggfmakdaogkfomddhfmpjeni
Thanks @Steve
As a part of the accessibility question, please consider the color contrast ratios of the modern players. One place where this is a problem is the Next and Back buttons. The minor shades of difference between an active Next button and one that is not yet active is not strong enough of a contrast to be easily discernable.
Good point! Thanks for bringing that into the conversation!
Hi there. Quick update about Rise 360 accessibility! While we can’t share more specifics on timing and the order of features yet, our end goal is to get Rise 360 output WCAG 2.1 compliant by the end of 2020.
To help us get it right, we’ve hired Deque, a leader in digital accessibility, to perform a 3rd party audit for Rise 360 so we have an accurate and comprehensive list of items to tackle. We’ve also dedicated developers to own accessibility on Rise 360 long term.
As we have more details and updates, we will most certainly share here with all of you!
Rise 360 output WCAG 2.1 compliant by the end of 2020.
Will this be WCAG 2.1 AA?
Yes! This is most definitely a step in the right direction!
Thanks so much for the update, Alyssa!
...and there was much rejoicing!!!
Thanks for the update, Alyssa. Glad Deque is partnering with you...they are really good in this field. Are you targeting any specific screen readers? NVDA and JAWS provide very different experiences with "accessible" Storyline. I'm curious if there will be a similar gap in learner experience for Rise.
This is great news! Thank you for the update, Alyssa!
I love the Monty Python reference. Also happy to hear that Articulate has a plan to achieve accessibility with their products!
Regards,
Ms. Thieme (TJ) Bittick
Cautiously optimistic, and hoping that the effort will be complete - no workarounds, or excessive work to develop content so that it's usable, functionality that needs to be avoided, etc. Not meaning to rain on anyone's parade, but Storyline is advertised as "accessible", but it's unnecessarily difficult to build accessible content in the tool. (more details at https://kylemackie.wordpress.com/2019/09/26/im-worried-that-your-awesome-storyline-presentation-is-actually-inaccessible/).
Cool, I'll start using it in 2020 then. Until that time it's just going to be the 10000 accessibility workarounds I've had to figure out for Storyline.
it would be wonderful if it could be accessible. Just posting so I get updates. Thank you