Storyline 360: Adding Alternative Text for Screen Readers

Storyline 360 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, you'll learn best practices for writing alt text and three ways to add alt text in Storyline 360.

• Best Practices for Writing Alt Text
• Using the Media Library
• Using the Focus Order Window
• Using the Size and Position Window

Best Practices for Writing Alt Text

Non-text content needs alternative text (alt text) to describe its meaning to learners using assistive technologies. Add alt text to objects that convey meaning or context to the learner. Purely decorative images and shapes can be hidden from accessibility tools to prevent unnecessary announcements that can fatigue screen reader users.

Our on-demand webinar, How to Write Alt Text for E-Learning, offers more specific strategies. The following tips for writing good alt text can help you get started:

• Be descriptive and specific. Clearly describe the content, function, and context of the image. You should have enough detail that someone who cannot see the image will still understand its purpose. Don’t include repeating phrases like "image of" and "graphic of.” Screen readers announce this by default.
• Keep it short. Aim for brief descriptions that convey the essential information. We recommend that alt text be less than 150 characters.
• Write clearly. Abbreviations and excessive punctuation marks may confuse screen readers, so use complete words and limit punctuation to guarantee clarity. For example, *** will be read literally as “asterisk, asterisk, asterisk.”

Using the Media Library

The media library makes it super easy to add alt text to all the images, characters, and videos in your project.

1. Open the media library by going to the View tab on the Storyline ribbon and clicking Media Library.
2. Select an image, character pose, or video in the asset grid on the left side of the window.
3. Enter alt text in the details pane on the right.

Learn more about managing alt text in the media library.

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 alt 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 Alternative Text column.
4. Click Save when you’re finished.

Here are some tips for working with alt 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 focus order window, you'll need to switch to Slide Master View (press F4) to set their alt text. Right-click each object on the slide master, click each object on the slide master and choose Accessibility.
• If a non-text object doesn’t have alt text, screen readers will read the name of that object as it appears in the timeline. The alt text for a text object defaults to the content within it.
• If you don’t want an object to be read by screen readers, select it in the list, then click the Remove button in the lower left corner of the window. (This doesn’t delete the object; it just hides it from screen readers.)
• If you’re using the modern player, you can add alt text to your course logo in your player settings.

Learn more about using the Focus Order window.

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 alt text to the selected object.

1. Right-click the object you want to edit, then choose Accessibility.
2. Keep the Object is visible to accessibility tools box marked.
3. Enter text in the Alternative text field, then click Close.

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

• When writing alt text, you’ll see a dynamic character count and a tip not to exceed 150 characters. (While there isn't a character limit for alt text, it's best practice to keep it concise.)
• If the visibility box is checked for a non-text object without alt text, screen readers will read the name of that object as it appears in the timeline. If the visibility box is checked for a text object, screen readers will read the content within that text object.
• If you’d prefer to hide the selected object from screen readers altogether, uncheck the visibility box.
• If you’re using the modern player, you can add alt text to your course logo in your player settings.

Learn more about using the Size and Position window.