Build an Accessible Drag and Drop Interaction in Storyline
If you've ever needed to build an accessible course in Storyline, you may know that the built in drag and drop interactions are not accessible (see the VPAT). However, with some extra work it is possible to create your own drag and drop interaction in Storyline that is fully accessible. The issue with drag and drop interactions and accessibility is that people who access the computer using only a keyboard or assistive input device, and no mouse, cannot click-and-drag. So, the interaction must have another option, that works through the use of keyboard inputs (typically, the tab and enter keys). In Storyline triggers, anything that is done "on click" can be mimicked by a keyboard or other input device. To build a keyboard-accessible drag and drop requires building a second set of triggers that function using click-based rather than drag-based interactions. Here is how to build your own keyboard accessible drag and drop interaction in Storyline. Please note that you may include other elements that are not fully accessible. Take a look at the WCAG Guidelines to evaluate other aspects of your course creation This interaction relies on a user-selected submit button. This button needs to be on the slide, as the triggers used are not compatible with the built-in submit button in the Storyline player. Note: It will be easiest to create all layers, elements, and states before creating the triggers. LAYERS NEEDED Base Layer – Most of the triggers will be on the base layer. Correct – A feedback layer for when the user submits the interaction, when all items have been moved to the correct drop location. Incorrect – A feedback layer for when the user submits the interaction, when the interaction is incomplete or some items have been moved to the wrong location on the screen. BASE LAYER Elements Needed Drag items – one or more Drop targets – one or more Submit button – one Drag Item States Normal - The built in state. This does not need to be modified. Selected - Create a “Selected” state. Make sure to edit the selected state to include a visual indicator that the item is selected. An easy way to do this is to add a “glow” shape effect in a color contrasting the object. Drop Correct - Create the “Drop Correct” state. You may want to visually signal that the drop was completed. One way to do this is to darken or desaturate the object in the “drop correct” state. Drop Incorrect - Create the “Drop Incorrect” state. Make this state visually identical to the Drop Correct state. Triggers Submit Button 1. Show layer Correct when user clicks If Drag item 1 state equals Drop correct And Drag item 2 state equals Drop correct … (Continue through the rest of the drag items) 2. Show layer Incorrect when user clicks If Drag item 1 state does not equal Drop correct Or Drag item 2 state does not equal Drop correct … (Continue through the rest of the drag items) Drag Items For each drag item: 1. Change the item’s state to Drop Correct when it is dropped on the right drop target Change state of Drag Item 1 to Drop Correct when user drops Drag Item 1 on Drop Target 1 2. “Deselect” all other drag items when this drag item is selected (Change other drag items’ states to Normal, if they are currently selected) Change state of Drag Item 2 to Normal when user clicks Drag Item 1 If Drag Item 2 state is equal to Selected Change state of Drag Item 3 to Normal when user clicks Drag Item 1 If Drag Item 3 state is equal to Selected … (add this trigger for all other drag items on screen) 3. Change the item’s state to Drop Incorrect when it is dropped the wrong drop target(s) Change state of Drag Item 1 to Drop Incorrect when user drops Drag Item 1 on either Drop Target 2 or Drop Target 3 … (include all incorrect drop targets in the list) Drop Targets For each drop target: 1. Move the selected Drag Item along a motion path to the Drop Target when the user selects the drop target. NOTE: The move triggers MUST be before the state change triggers in the list Move Drag Item 1 on Motion Path* when the user clicks Drop Target 1 If Drag Item 1 state is equal to Selected * For the motion path, create a line motion path with start and end points in the center of the drop target. This will move the object to the correct location without showing movement on screen. Make sure to go into the path options and select “locked” for origin. This will ensure that no matter where on the slide the object starts from, it will move to the correct position with the trigger. Name the motion path something descriptive so you can identify it in the trigger list (ex: Drag 1 to Drop 1 Path). NOTE: When you create a motion path, Storyline automatically adds a trigger to the object to follow the motion path when the slide timeline starts. Make sure to go in and remove all of these triggers. … Make this trigger for all drag items on the slide. 2. Change the state of the corresponding Drag Item to Drop Correct, if the Drag Item is selected Change State of Drag Item 1 to Drop Correct when the user clicks Drop Item 1 if Drag Item 1 state is equal to Selected 3. Change state of the selected drag item to Drop Incorrect for all drag items that do not match with this drop target Change State of Drag Item 2 to Drop Incorrect when the user clicks Drop Item 1 if Drag Item 2 state is equal to Selected … Make this trigger for all remaining drag objects on the slide. CORRECT LAYER Elements Text box(es) Continue button Triggers Continue button Jump to next slide INCORRECT LAYER Elements Text box(es) Try Again button Triggers Try Again button Jump to slide (current slide) – this restarts the interaction on the slide base layer NOTE: Make sure the slide is set to “Reset to initial state” for the “when revisiting” selection in the slide properties. And there you have it! It looks like a lot, but once you've done it a time or two you can get the hang of it. Below is an example .story file of this interaction. It uses the same names as the instructions above so you can see how this all looks in a project.New Matching lay-out
Last week we received the updated lay-out of the matching knowledge check. The moment I discovered it was a bit unlucky (during a presentation, got me a bit confused) but today I had some time to look into it. The changelog as following on the articulate website: Enhanced: Matching knowledge check blocks have been upgraded with intuitive navigation, full keyboard support, and comprehensive screen reader integration. Now, I think it's great that Articulate is improving it's software's accessibility, however, I don't see anything intuitive about the new design. A lot of new things have been added which for me only make the assignment more confusing. On the left side the hamburger icon and number suggest some sort of clickability, which is not there. The drop downs on the right give the assignment a new layer of intractability which only wouldn't want for the student. Overall the lay-out is a lot less clean and drains focus away from the content towards the design. Maybe a simple solution would be to add a slider which let's us choose between this lay-out and the previous one (or this one without the rings and bells). That's just my opinion, I was wondering what other think of the new lay-out!Looking for examples of alt text for math equations
Hi everyone, the Storyline team is currently exploring ways to support math equations and we've heard from several customers that accessibility, specifically screen reader support, is very important. But we would like to hear from more users to make sure we deliver something that's actually usable and valuable to you. If you use equations, could you share how you approach alt text for accessibility? Do you use short descriptions, long descriptions, or both? We'd also love to see examples of how you describe specific equations to better understand your process and needs. Your feedback will help shape this feature! Annie Kim Product Manager, StorylineExporting all captions
I have created a Storyline360 file, and each slide has its own audio and closed captioning created within Articulate. I can export the closed captions for individuals slides but can I export all captions for the whole file? Also when I publish to video the captions don't appear to come with it, and I then need to attach a caption file? I am VERY new to this, and hope some can help.Dark mode for Storyline 360
Hi there Just wondering if there is a way now (or will be...) in SL360 settings to have the build tool adjustable to a dark grey background and tool bars like in the MS Office suite and Adobe CC programs. I jump from those with a nice dark grey to Storyline 360 and it's bright white window is a bit of a jolt on the eyes... Cheers SimonArticulate Storyline + JAWS + Slide Title + "F"
Our 508 reviewers have indicated that a slide title which is set up in a master slide, is reading the title followed by "F". For example, "This is the slide title - F." This does not happen in every instance of a slide using this master. It does not happen on other slide masters. Has anyone experienced a similar issue and, if so, what is the fix? Thank you!Closed Caption issues with AI Text to Speech
Hi all I am loving the new AI Text to Speech voices but have found an issue with the Closed Captions. The Closed Caption placeholders are not lining up or splitting where expected. Image 1 is how the closed captions are displaying for the voice to text. Image 2 or 3 are both examples of how I would expect the captions to display, with the placeholders aligned to speech. Either of these would be acceptable. Is anyone else experiencing this? Not sure if this is a bug or an enhancement request or if I'm missing something? Thanks all! Niki Stoyles
