5 Common Questions About How Storyline 360 Courses Work with Screen Readers
Raise your hand if the first time you used a screen reader was when you wanted to test an accessible course you created with Storyline 360. Ok, now raise your hand if you ran into some trouble navigating but were unsure whether it was a problem with the course itself, with the screen reader, or simply user error. If you’re still reading this article, I’m going to guess you raised your hand for both of those statements. Know this: you’re not alone! We get questions about how Storyline 360 content should work on screen readers all the time. And it makes sense! If you’ve never used a screen reader before, how are you supposed to know what’s normal and what isn’t? In this article, we’ll give you the answers to the top 5 most frequently asked questions we get from Storyline 360 users about how content should work on screen readers. Let’s take a look! 1. Why doesn’t my screen reader read slide content automatically? With most websites, screen readers start reading visual content as soon as it appears on screen. However, Storyline 360 courses are handled a little differently. That’s because e-learning courses often contain audio or video that autoplays when you arrive on a slide. This means that if the screen reader starts reading on-screen text immediately, the screen reader audio competes with the course audio—making it impossible for the learner to hear and understand either one. When your learner arrives on a slide, if they’re using a screen reader it will read the slide title and wait for the learner to explore the rest of the content. You can learn more about why and how this works in our article Screen Readers Don’t Auto-Read Content. 2. Why does the screen reader say things that aren’t written on the screen, like “heading” and “navigation”? Since most people using screen readers have visual impairments, screen readers try to provide them with as much context as possible to help them understand what’s going on. For this reason, you’ll notice that the screen reader will say things like “heading” before reading a title, or “navigation” before reading the names of the buttons. Some screen readers read punctuation out loud (“dash,” “comma,” etc.) by default, and others don’t. Screen readers control the way this works, not Storyline 360 course settings. You might be able to customize some of these options directly in your screen reader, but there’s no way to ensure that every learner’s settings are the same. 3. Why does the screen reader sometimes stop reading the on-screen text before the end? Some screen readers (like NVDA and JAWS) stop reading after a certain number of characters (for example, 100 or 150). If you’d like it to continue, you can customize this setting or use the down arrow to continue reading. To find out how to do this, refer to your screen reader’s user guide. 4. How does the screen reader decide the order in which to read my slide content? By default, objects are read from left to right, starting at the top of the slide. However, thanks to the focus order feature in Storyline 360, you can personalize the order to fit your needs. Here’s a tutorial that walks you through how to do that, step by step: Customizing the Focus Order of Slide Objects. 5. Why doesn’t keyboard navigation work the same for screen reader users and keyboard-only users? Both types of users use their keyboards to navigate the course, but not for the same reason. So we tailored the navigation to their specific needs. Here’s a table that lays out the differences: Who are the learners? What are their needs? How does keyboard navigation work? How does the navigation fit their needs? Screen Reader Users Primarily people with visual impairments—like partial sight, low vision, color blindness, legal blindness, and total blindness. These users can’t rely on their vision to interact with content, so they need the content to be read aloud to them or displayed in braille on a refreshable braille display. Learners move through all the objects on the slide (static and interactive) using the screen reader navigation keys, listening to (or reading via their refreshable braille display) the descriptions as they go. If they want to skip over static content, they can press Shift and Tab at the same time. Learners can decide whether they want to move through every item on the screen or only the interactive items. That way, they can access the full course content if they’d like, or skip over to quickly access the interactive parts if they’re reviewing content they’ve already consumed, for example. Keyboard-Only Users People who can see, but can’t or prefer not to use a mouse, often because of pain or a physical disability. These users can see the course content, so they don’t need it read aloud to them. They just need to be able to navigate using their keyboard instead of their mouse. Learners move through interactive objects only (skipping static objects like text and images) by pressing on Tab and Shift+Tab. It allows learners to navigate the course quickly, skipping over static objects, since they can see them for themselves. Find out more about how navigation differs for these two types of users here: Navigation Is Easier. More Resources Hopefully you found the answers to these questions helpful! What other questions do you have about how Storyline 360 courses work with screen readers? Drop them in the comments below and we’ll do our best to answer them! Want to learn more about creating accessible e-learning? Check out these helpful resources: All About Accessibility 6 Best Practices for Designing Accessible E-Learning Articulate 360 FAQs: Accessibility Storyline 360: How to Design an Accessible Course How to Test Your Storyline 360 Course with a Screen Reader A Checklist for QA Testing Courses with a Screen Reader Want to try building an accessible e-learning course in Storyline 360, but don’t have Articulate 360? Start a free 30-day trial, and come back to E-Learning Heroes regularly for more helpful advice on everything related to e-learning. If you have any questions, please share them in the comments.3 Insights About How Rise 360 Courses Work with Screen Readers
On the whole, screen readers interact with Rise 360 courses the same way they do websites. However, if you’re not familiar with that experience, knowing that isn’t very helpful! In this article, we’ll walk you through some key things to know about the screen reader experience, so you know what to expect. 1. Screen readers start announcing Rise 360 course content automatically. When you open your Rise 360 course with your screen reader activated, it’ll automatically start reading your content aloud. 2. Screen readers often stop announcing content after a certain number of characters. Some screen readers (like NVDA and JAWS) stop reading after a certain number of characters (for example, 100 or 150). This is true for all types of content—not just content built in Rise 360. If you’d like your screen reader to continue reading, press the down arrow on your keyboard. You can also customize this setting. To find out how to do that, refer to your screen reader’s user guide. 3. Screen readers announce content from left to right and top to bottom. Just like they do with websites, screen readers read your Rise 360 content from left to right and top to bottom. This happens automatically—so you don’t have to do anything to make it work! Let’s look at an example: Screenshot of Lesson Screen Reader Announcement Order Lesson number Lesson title Author name Course content Note that since it’s decorative, I deliberately hid the image from the screen reader by putting two quotes ("") in the alt text field. That way, the screen reader skips over it. If I hadn’t done that, the screen reader would have read the image name or alt text before the course content. View interactive version. More Resources Hopefully these insights will help prepare you for testing your Rise 360 courses with screen readers. But if you feel like you need more information before you get started, check out these helpful resources: Accessible E-Learning & Screen Readers: What You Need to Know How to Test Your E-Learning Course with a Screen Reader 9 Basic Screen Reader Commands to Know When Testing Your E-Learning Courses A Checklist for QA Testing Courses with a Screen Reader Want to create courses that work with screen readers, but don’t have Articulate 360? Start a free 30-day trial, and come back to E-Learning Heroes regularly for more helpful advice on everything related to e-learning. If you have any questions, please share them in the comments.How To Write Alt Text for the 4 Most Common Types of Images in E-Learning
Alt text is descriptive text that you—as a course author—can add to on-screen imagery to explain its content and purpose. Including alt text in your e-learning courses is important for a few reasons: To ensure all learners can access all your course content. Alt text helps learners using a screen reader—like those with visual or cognitive disabilities—understand the content and purpose of visual media. For compliance. It’s required by criterion 1.1.1 of the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG), so if your courses need to be accessible, you have to include alt text. In case an image doesn’t load. If your learner runs into loading issues, the alt text will appear in place of the image, ensuring they can still understand the content. For alt text to be effective, it needs to include the right information. But depending on the type of image, the “right” information differs slightly. Let’s take a look at some best practices for handling the most common image types in e-learning. 1. Decorative Images Decorative images—like dividers, borders, or background images—don’t add any relevant information to your content. They’re simply there for visual interest. To determine if an image is decorative, ask yourself if removing it would impact the learning experience. If not, it’s decorative. If that’s the case, it’s best to tell screen readers to ignore it. This saves learners using a screen reader time by letting them skip right to essential content. For example, the photograph in the image below is purely decorative. It’s not adding anything to the learning experience, it just makes the slide more visually appealing. That’s why we’ve told the screen readers to skip over the image by putting "" in the alt text field. Alt text: In Rise 360: "" In Storyline 360: uncheck Object Is Visible to Accessibility Tools box To learn more about alt text for decorative images, read this article: Decorative Images. 2. Functional Images Functional images—like those used as buttons or links—serve a specific purpose. When a learner interacts with these images, something happens. For example, they’re brought to another part of the course, a browser window opens and loads a specific site, or a file is downloaded. When it comes to functional images, your alt text should describe exactly what happens when they interact with that image, so there are no surprises. For example, if there’s an icon learners can click on to download a PDF, the alt text should include the action (download), the name of the document, and the file type—like in the example below. Alt text: Download Driving Your Career Worksheet PDF To dig into the details of alt text for functional images, head over here: Functional Images. 3. Informative Images Informative images not only add visual interest, they also provide additional context or information. Informative images can be either simple or complex. Let’s take a look at the difference between the two. Simple Simple informative images are illustrations, photographs, or diagrams whose content and purpose you can explain in a sentence or two. For example, the alt text for the illustration below includes not only the visual description but also the meaning of the road sign that’s pictured. Alt text: A road sign that’s round, blue, and has an arrow pointing to the right indicating that you must turn right. Complex Complex informative images are anything with content or purpose that’s too involved to explain in one or two sentences. This could include charts, graphs, screenshots, etc. Because alt text is meant to be concise, it’s best to include the explanations for these kinds of images in the course text directly, instead of in the alt text. For example, to understand everything that’s pictured in the graph below, a longer explanation is required, so the alt text gives a brief overview of what’s pictured and tells the learner to keep reading for more information. Alt text: Graph showing accounts receivable data from January to June. Keep reading for more details. For more details on how to handle alt text for informative images, check out this article: Informative Images. 4. Logos Logos are another type of image that doesn’t fit squarely into any of the above categories. That’s because they’re somewhat decorative, somewhat informative, and sometimes even functional. For that reason, we decided they deserved their own category. When it comes to alt text for logos, it’ll depend on whether the logo includes a link. With a link When a logo is functional—meaning it links to a website—you’ll want to include both the name of the organization and information about where the link leads. For example: Alt text: Alpha Airlines - home page Without a link If the logo doesn’t link off to anything, you can simply include the organization’s name and the word “logo” the first time it appears. For subsequent instances of the logo, it’s best to have the screen reader skip over it to avoid repetition. First instance: Alt text: Alpha Airlines logo Subsequent instances: Alt text: In Rise 360: "" In Storyline 360: uncheck Object Is Visible To Accessibility Tools box Wrap-Up By applying these practical tips, you can be confident you’re writing alt text that’s actually helpful to your learners and therefore creating a better learning experience for everyone. Looking for more accessibility best practices? Check out this helpful series of articles: All About Accessibility. And remember to subscribe to our newsletter to get the latest e-learning inspiration and insights directly in your inbox. You can also find us on LinkedIn and Twitter. And if you have questions, please share them in the comments.6 Easy Ways to Make Your E-Learning More Accessible
Intimidated by the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines? You’re not alone. While it’s great these guidelines exist, most e-learning pros find them overwhelming. They’re long and written in tech speak, so it can be hard to be sure you’ve fully understood what they mean—much less ensure your courses comply with them. But the truth is, you don’t have to go from zero to 100% accessibility compliance overnight. Most e-learning pros aren’t experts in WCAG, but instead are taking baby steps toward accessibility—learning and improving incrementally. In this article, I’d like to walk you through some easy—but important—changes you can implement right away to make your courses more accessible. 1. Make All Text Size 12 or Larger When designing e-learning, keep text size in mind for clarity and readability. All you have to do is make sure all the text in your course is set to at least size 12, so it’s easier to read. Pretty simple, right? 2. Use Contrasting Colors Another simple thing you can do to ensure all your learners can read and interact easily with your content is to choose colors for foreground objects—like text and buttons—that stand out from the background. The easiest way to do this is by measuring the contrast—or the difference in brightness—between your foreground and background colors using an accessible color palette builder like this one. Here are two main rules to remember: The color of your text should have a 4.5:1* contrast ratio with the background color. The color of interface elements—like buttons—should have a 3:1 contrast ratio with the background color. For more information on contrast, check out this article: Contrast Considerations for Accessible E-Learning. 3. Make All Buttons 44 x 44 Pixels or Larger Changing the size of your buttons is another quick win. By adjusting all your buttons to at least 44 x 44 pixels, you’re making sure they’re easy for all learners to select—even if they have motor impairments. Check out the difference below: 35 x 20 pixels 45 x 90 pixels 65 x 185 pixels Try it out for yourself The bottom line is that the bigger the button, the easier it is to click because you don’t have to make as much of an effort to click in the exact right spot. 4. Add Alternative (Alt) Text to Informative Images and Hide Decorative Images Another easy way to make your courses more accessible is by adding alt text—descriptive text that screen readers announce to learners—to informative images in your course to explain what an image depicts. If an image is just decorative, you’ll want to hide it from accessibility tools so the learner won’t have to repeatedly press the tab key or screen reader navigation keys to advance to important elements. How can you tell the difference between informative and decorative images? Just ask yourself this question: If I removed this image, would the learning experience be impacted? If the answer is yes, it’s an informative image. If the answer is no, it’s likely a decorative image. For tips on writing effective alt text, read this helpful WebAIM article. Not sure how to add alt text or hide decorative images from screen readers? If you’re using Articulate apps, it’s super easy! Check out these tutorials to find out how it works: Storyline 360: Adding Alternative Text for Screen Readers Storyline 360: Hiding Objects from Accessibility Tools Rise 360: How to Add Alternative Text to Images 5. Include Closed Captions and Transcripts for Audio and Video To make your audio and video content more accessible, start including both closed captions and transcripts. For videos, make sure to include visual descriptions in the captions and transcripts so everyone can benefit from the additional context contained in the video. Why include both captions and transcripts? Because people who are deaf and blind can’t access captions. Not to mention that transcripts also allow people with cognitive impairments to read at their own pace. Luckily, adding closed captions and transcripts is easy in Articulate apps! Check out these tutorials for closed captions: Storyline 360: Creating and Editing Closed Captions with the Built-In Editor Rise 360: How to Add Closed Captioning to a Video And to add transcripts, here’s what I recommend: For videos in Storyline 360: Enable the transcript button after adding closed captions to automatically generate a video transcript. For audio in Storyline 360: Add a button that opens a layer with the transcript text on it. For audio and video in Rise 360: Add a single-tabbed accordion block below the audio or video block with the transcript text inside. If your course uses a lot of audio and video, it’s also a good practice to include a downloadable transcript at the beginning of the course, so learners can follow along that way if they’d like. 6. Customize the Focus Order (If Needed) Another thing that has a big impact on the learning experience of learners using screen readers is the order in which on-screen text and objects are read aloud—called the focus order. And it makes sense! Imagine if when learners open a slide with a tabs interaction, instead of starting with the first tab, they were directed to the middle one? And from there, instead of moving on to the next tab, it brought them back up to the slide title? That would be a frustrating experience, wouldn’t it? Of course it would! When you don’t define a logical focus order, learners using screen readers end up doing extra work to access the same information as other learners—and that’s not an equal experience. Luckily, if you’re using Rise 360 the focus order is taken care of for you, so you don’t have to worry about it. And if you’re using Storyline 360, you can easily customize it by following the instructions in this tutorial: Storyline 360: Customizing the Focus Order of Slide Objects The Bottom Line Will implementing these tips ensure your course conforms 100% to every WCAG standard? No. But you’ll be making a significant leap forward in the level of accessibility you’re providing—which will improve the learning experience for everyone. Want to learn more about making accessible e-learning? Check out this helpful article series: All About Accessibility. Subscribe to our newsletter to get the latest e-learning inspiration and insights directly in your inbox. You can also find us on LinkedIn and X (formerly Twitter). And if you have questions, please share them in the comments. *According to the WCAG guidelines, large-scale text (≥ 14 bold or 18 regular) can have a contrast ratio as low as 3:1, but we simplified it to make it easier to remember and because a higher contrast is better.Elevate Your E-Learning by Prioritizing Accessibility and Usability
As an e-learning developer, you want to create content that engages learners and delivers on the learning objectives you worked hard to define. But what if that engagement and learning can't happen because of issues with accessibility or usability? In this article, you'll find out what accessibility and usability are and how you can apply the principles behind them to design courses that work better for all learners. Then, you'll get tips on reviewing and testing your courses to ensure they meet those standards. Let's get started! Understanding Accessibility Accessibility—also known as a11y—is the practice of making experiences work for everyone, regardless of their ability. In e-learning, accessible content means it's been designed for all learners to access—including those with auditory, visual, mobility, cognitive, or other disabilities. For example, using sufficient color contrast helps learners with low vision or color vision deficiency. Offering textual explanations for visual content is another common accessibility best practice. Focusing on web accessibility allows everyone to perceive, navigate, and interact with content. Guidelines—such as Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG)—and laws—like Section 508 (United States)—provide guidance and ensure all learners can access online materials equally. Understanding Usability Usability in e-learning measures how easy content is to use and examines how users experience it. Content should be user-friendly, intuitive, efficient, and effective. For example, if learners must complete a quiz, they should be able to test their knowledge without encountering confusing errors or getting stuck and feeling frustrated with the process. The Nielsen Norman Group is a firm focused on improving the everyday experience of using technology. They've defined five key components of usability that can also be applied when creating e-learning courses: Learnability. Accomplishing basic tasks should be easy, even the first time a learner encounters a course. Efficiency. Barriers that prevent learners from completing courses efficiently should be removed. Memorability. Learners who revisit content shouldn't have to start from scratch. Errors. Encountering errors—and recovering from them—shouldn't derail learning. Satisfaction. Engaging with the content should be enjoyable and pleasant for learners. Benefits of Combining Accessibility and Usability Accessible content enhances everyone's experience. For example, closed captions and transcripts for accessibility not only help learners who are deaf or hard of hearing. They also allow those in a loud environment where audio can't be heard or in a public space that requires silence to access content. Captions and transcripts improve understanding for foreign-language learners as well. However, ensuring that your e-learning content conforms to accessibility guidelines like captioning and transcripts doesn't mean your course automatically provides a usable learning experience for all. Conversely, while usability centers user experiences, usable content isn't necessarily accessible to people with disabilities. For example, a visually stunning course might be engaging for some learners. However, if it uses colors and other visuals alone to convey information or move the learner through, the content won't be accessible to those with low vision or color vision deficiency. To ensure truly equal access to digital content, apply accessibility and usability practices in tandem during the course development process. Testing for Accessibility and Usability The best way to find out if the content you're creating is accessible and usable is to test it. If you're new to this process, you might feel intimidated. But don't worry! We'll introduce you to some trusted accessibility testing tools and give you tips for usability testing to get you started in the next section. Accessibility Testing Accessibility testing can be done with automated tools or manually—both of which have advantages and disadvantages. For the most optimal results, combine both types of accessibility testing. Automated Testing Automated accessibility testing tools scan content for accessibility issues. They're easy to run and don't require in-depth accessibility knowledge to detect minor problems. Examples of automated accessibility testing tools include: Deque axe DevTools® WebAIM WAVE® TPGi ARC Toolkit ANDI (Accessible Name & Description Inspector) While automated accessibility testing tools boost speed and efficiency, they don't catch all accessibility issues. They also sometimes report false positives or misunderstand accessibility requirements. Additionally, your results might vary depending on the testing tool. Manual Testing Given the limitations described above, automated testing can be a practical place to start but usually won't finish the job. Manually reviewing your published course one slide at a time offers the most complete results. If that sounds overwhelming, don't panic. We've got you covered! Here's a checklist of universal design basics for text, multimedia, images, and interactivity elements in e-learning: Accessible E-Learning Checklist. Examples include: Check the accuracy of automated tests. Ensure learners can easily navigate content—such as hyperlinks, alternative text (alt text), menus, and closed captions—with a keyboard and screen reader. Make sure your course has plain and inclusive language appropriate for your audience and provides accessibility instructions wherever user input is required. While manual testing requires you to learn about accessibility requirements and standards, it's the best way to ensure everyone can access your content. Here are multiple resources to support you on your accessibility learning journey: Articulate 360 Accessibility Index of Support Articles Storyline 360: How to Design an Accessible Course Rise 360: How to Design an Accessible Course How To Test Your E-Learning Course with a Screen Reader My Course Isn’t Accessible! Now What? Usability Testing Usability testing is conducted by real people who scan content for usability problems. You can improve your usability testing and boost accessibility at the same time by including people with disabilities and those who use assistive devices and technology when you recruit and engage usability test participants. For example, organizations like Fable connect digital teams with people with disabilities to do usability testing. Wrap-Up We hope this article inspires you to provide accessible and usable e-learning experiences for all learners. What did you find most interesting? Is there anything we missed? Let's discuss! Share your thoughts in the comments below. For more help creating accessible courses, check out these helpful resources: All About Accessibility Articulate 360 Training Videos About Accessibility17 Storyline 360 Features That’ll Help You Design Accessible E-Learning
For many organizations, creating accessible e-learning is both a mission-critical business goal and a legal requirement. The good news is that Storyline 360 has the features you need to create e-learning that meets Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG). In this article, we’ll walk you through how these key Storyline 360 features help you create accessible courses. 1. Accessible Player When you think about accessibility, screen reader compatibility is likely one of the first things that comes to mind. Luckily, the Storyline 360 modern player has built-in accessibility features that make it possible for learners with a variety of screen readers to interact with the course controls without any manual tweaking on your part. It also meets and exceeds WCAG Level AA guidelines for visual contrast and color. Interested in learning more about the built-in accessibility features in the Storyline 360 player? Check out these articles: The Accessible Player Makes Navigation Easier Modern Player Accessible Contrast 2. Accessibility Controls As a course author, one of the easiest ways to make your courses more accessible is by providing learners with options to customize their learning experience. After all, who better than your learners themselves to know what they need to be successful? That’s why we added accessibility controls to the course player. These controls allow learners to change the zoom mode*, turn accessible text on or off, toggle keyboard shortcuts, and turn background audio on or off. All you have to do is turn these controls on and let your learners choose the options that work best for them. Learn more in this article: Adjustable Accessibility Settings. 3. Full-Screen Toggle Another way you can give learners more power over the learning experience is by turning on the full-screen toggle option in the course player. Full-screen mode can help learners fully focus on the course by hiding other open tabs or windows. And then, when they want to switch to another task, they can simply toggle it off again. To learn more about this feature, check out this article: Full-Screen Toggle. 4. Course Playback Speed Control Learners with language barriers or cognitive disabilities sometimes want to slow content down so it’s easier to follow. And learners who want to quickly review content they’ve seen before often want to speed it up to save time. With this awesome feature, you can let learners choose a playback speed that’s comfortable for them—from 0.25x to 2x—for an improved learning experience. Find out more about how it works here: Course Playback Speed Control. 5. Accessible Text Learners with low vision often use custom style sheets or browser extensions to adjust the size and style of text on websites so it’s easier to read. Thanks to the accessible text feature, they can do that with text in your Storyline 360 courses as well. Learn more about how that works in these helpful resources: Storyline 360: Accessible Text Accessible Text Features in Storyline 360 6. Accessible Text Styles When learners access content using a screen reader, information hierarchy is important because it helps them understand how the content is laid out as well as the relationships between different elements. Accessible text styles allow authors to give screen reader learners this additional context by marking text object headings, hyperlinks, quotes, etc. For more information, head over here: Using Text Styles Accessible Text Features in Storyline 360 7. Text Autofit When it comes to making sure all your learners can access your content, another important consideration is text size. After all, if your copy is too small, learners might have trouble reading it. With the text autofit feature, you can set textboxes to a fixed size without shrinking the text if it overflows—so you know your learners will be able to read it easily. Learn more about this feature here: Text Autofit Improvements. 8. Course Player Font Size Because using different fonts impacts the perceived size of text, Storyline 360 allows you to customize the size of your course player labels to ensure they’re easy to read. Learn how to do that here: Choosing a Font for Your Course Player 9. Alternative (Alt) Text Alt text is important for learners who can’t see the images, graphics, or videos on the screen. It provides a description of the multimedia objects for screen readers to read aloud. You should add alt text to all slide objects that convey meaning or context to the learner. Thankfully, adding alt text is supereasy in Storyline 360. Here’s an article that’ll walk you through the steps for images within your course: Adding Alternative Text for Screen Readers. And here’s another one for adding alt text to a logo that’s embedded in the course player: Adding Alt Text to Your Logo. 10. Closed Captions Closed captions aren’t just for learners with hearing impairments. They’re also great for people taking your course in a language they’re still learning, in a noisy environment, or with cognitive disabilities, for example. That’s why it’s important to include closed captions for any audio or video content you choose to include in your course. Learn how to do that in these helpful resources: Importing Closed Captions for Narration and Videos Creating and Editing Closed Captions With the Built-in Editor 11. Closed Captions Formatting Make sure your closed captions are easy to read, and don’t block other content by customizing their look in the course player. In player settings, you can select your font and size, text and background color, and the placement location. 12. Video Transcripts Adding transcripts to videos is a great way to support learners who rely on screen readers, use braille displays, or prefer to read the audio content at their own pace. And with Storyline 360, it’s supereasy to add transcripts to your videos. Simply add closed captions and turn on the accessible video controls and Storyline will generate them for you automatically. It’s that simple! For more details about this feature, head over here: Video Transcripts. 13. Dialog Layers Dialog layers—also known as modal dialogs—are pop-up windows that prevent users from clicking anything outside of them. They improve learners’ navigation experience by making it easier to understand how to move forward. Learners who can see will notice that the rest of the course dims when the dialog layer appears, signaling they can no longer access content outside the layer. Learners using a screen reader will understand they can’t select anything else because the keyboard focus will stay on the layer. Learn more about this feature here: Dialog Layers. And here’s a time-saving tip! Thanks to feedback master defaults, you can set every slide layer in your project to display as a dialog layer by default. Check out this article for more details: Feedback Master Defaults. 14. Accessible Feedback Layers Quizzes are a fundamental component of most e-learning courses. Providing your learners with feedback that explains what’s right and wrong—and why—is essential. Given their importance, quizzes need to work for all learners. When you use the accessible feedback layers in Storyline 360, you can rest easy knowing that they meet WCAG guidelines for visual contrast, color, and focus—right out of the gate. Head over here to learn more: Accessible Feedback Layers. 15. Accessible Quiz Results And, of course, no quiz would be complete without a result slide, so those should be accessible as well. That’s why Storyline 360 includes accessible quiz result slide templates. Their sleek designs meet WCAG guidelines for visual color, contrast, and focus—guaranteeing that all your learners can digest the content of your result slides. View this article for details: Accessible Quiz Results. 16. Custom Focus Order Focus order is the order in which screen readers announce on-screen objects. It’s superimportant that the focus order be logical, or it’ll make for a confusing experience for your screen reader users. (Head over here for a more detailed explanation about why focus order matters: 4 Things To Know About Storyline 360 Courses and Screen Readers.) Luckily, that’s something you can easily customize as the course author. Here’s a tutorial that walks you through how to use this feature step by step: Customizing the Focus Order of Slide Objects. 17. Two-Color Focus Indicator When learners navigate using a keyboard, an outline—called a focus indicator—highlights the object they’re currently selecting. Without focus indicators, these learners won’t know where they are on the page—so it’s pretty essential. In Storyline 360, you can choose not just one focus color but two! This helps learners clearly see the focus indicators on dark and light backgrounds. To learn more about this super-helpful feature, head over to this article: Two-Color Focus Indicator. Wrap-Up As you can see, Storyline 360 has a ton of accessibility features to help you create courses that work for all your learners. And we’re always hard at work to bring you even more! Stay tuned to our feature roadmap to see what’s on the horizon. And if you’re looking for more accessibility-related resources, check out the links below: All About Accessibility Articulate 360 FAQs: Accessibility Storyline 360: How to Design an Accessible Course Storyline 3: How to Design an Accessible Course Want to try using these features to create an accessible course but don’t have Articulate 360? Start a free 30-day trial, and come back to E-Learning Heroes regularly for more helpful advice on everything related to e-learning. If you have any questions, please share them in the comments. * The accessibility settings work in both the modern and classic player; the zoom-to-fit control, however, only appears in the modern player.
