Storyline 3: Adding Alternative Text for Screen Readers

Storyline 3 supports alternative text (alt text) for slide objects so your courses are accessible to learners with screen readers and other assistive technologies. In this user guide, we’ll explore two ways to add alt text in Storyline 3.

• Using the Focus Order Window
• Using the Size and Position Window

Using the Focus Order Window

The Focus Order window lets you customize the order in which slide objects are navigated with a keyboard and read by a screen reader. You can also use the Focus Order window to manage alternate text for all your slide objects. Here’s how:

1. Open the slide you want to customize in Slide View.
2. Go to the Home tab on the Storyline ribbon and click Focus Order.
3. When the Focus Order window opens, enter text in the Alternate Text column.
4. Click Save when you’re finished.

Here are some helpful tips for working with alternate text on the Focus Order window:

• All objects for the slide will appear in the Focus Order window, including objects from layers and slide masters.
• Although slide master objects appear in the custom tab order window, you'll need to switch to Slide Master View (press F4) to set their alternate text. Right-click each object on the slide master and choose Accessibility.
• If an object doesn’t have alternate text, screen readers will read the name of that object as it appears in the timeline.
• If you don’t want an object to be read by screen readers, select it in the list, then click the garbage bin icon in the lower left corner of the window. (This doesn’t delete the object; it just hides it from screen readers.)

To learn more about using the Focus Order window, see this user guide.

Using the Size and Position Window

The Size and Position window lets you control an object’s height, width, rotation, scale, crop, and location. You can also use the Size and Position window to add alternate text to an object. Here’s how:

1. Right-click the object you want to edit, then choose Accessibility. The Size and Position window will open directly to the Accessibility tab.

1. Mark the box called Object is visible to accessibility tools.
2. Enter text in the Alternate text field.
3. Click Close.

Here are some helpful tips for working with alternate text on the Size and Position window:

• If the visibility box is checked but there isn’t any alternate text, screen readers will read the name of the object as it appears in the timeline.
• If you’d prefer to hide the selected object from screen readers altogether, uncheck the visibility box.

To learn more about using the Size and Position window, see this user guide.