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stevenlandry
stevenlandry
Participant
April 18, 2016
Answered

Captivate 9 JAWS Compatibility

  • April 18, 2016
  • 1 reply
  • 1271 views

I have Accessibility features working fairly well, after a lot of trial and error.  There are still two items which make it impossible to say that Captivate can be compatible with screen readers. 

1.  The reading of text is always interrupted by the screen reader saying "Graphic."  This is very annoying and I cannot make it go away.  Please figure this out and create a patch to make this stop!

2.  There are no pre-made question interactions that truly work with a screen reader. It is extremely important that Adobe give us at least one option that will read the following items in a logical way that our visually impaired community can use:

1. Read the question

2. Read each of the possible answers

3. Ensure that the method for selecting the correct answer is clearly indicated

4. Read the feedback to the answer, and tell the user to try again if the answer is correct.

As far as I have been able to tell from internet research there is no other rapid development tool that can deliver this functionality.  I would be able to overlook Captivate's other flaws if we could have a question object that works properly, and PLEASE make it stop saying "Graphic!"

If there is a workaround or other way to configure a file to make the existing questions work with a screen reader, please let me know!

This topic has been closed for replies.
Correct answer stevenlandry

I think I can safely say that Adobe and Articulate and just about every other company out there building rapid elearning authoring software apps are ALL very interested in being able to tout the fact that their app works with screen readers.

However, the fact is that pulling off that particular trick is just not that easy to do in a totally reliable and very consistent way.  There are lots of variables involved and some of the rules around how accessibility should work are quite open to interpretation.  Everybody seems to have a different idea about how it should work in practice.  The result is that nobody is totally happy with the results.

It's a sad situation that I do not think should really be laid at the door of the software companies.  If there's money to be made, you can BET they're more than just interested.


Adobe contacted me regarding my product feedback to ask if I was publishing as SWF or HTML5 and then did not return the email that I sent back.  I tried creating a responsive project, and JAWS again read the text captions as "graphics."

Thanks for the advice, I appreciate your time.  I am not going to pursue this further.  Captivate does not work with JAWS / NVDA / or VoiceOver in any reliable and meaningful way, Hopefully they can fix it some day.

1 reply

RodWard
Community Expert
RodWardCommunity Expert
Community Expert
April 19, 2016

I think someone should point out that THIS forum is not Adobe Support or a guaranteed way to log enhancement requests for Captivate.

This is just a User Forum where we Captivate users (just like you) try to help one another out.  Adobe Staffers watch the forum and sometimes offer assistance.  But if you have some ideas for improving Captivate, you really should be logging them on the form page found on the Adobe website.  Writing about them here isn't the best way to get Adobe's attention.

As far as your issue with the screen readers saying GRAPHIC:  This is because that's exactly what the text objects on the slide ARE...Captivate converts them into graphics.  So your screen reader is quite correctly telling the user that it sees a graphic, and Captivate sets the text in the caption or Smart Shape as the descriptive text for that graphic that gets reads out by the reader software.  To have it NOT say graphic would require reprogramming the reader software, or reprogramming Captivate NOT to turn captions and Smart Shapes into graphics.

For what its worth, Responsive Projects don't necessarily turn everything into graphics.  So you may want to experiment with that type of project to see if you get better results for accessibility.  But in my view everything related to accessibility always boils down to a compromise of some type.  You never get everything you want.

stevenlandry
stevenlandryAuthor
Participant
April 19, 2016

Thanks Rod.  I submitted a product request.  That was helpful to point out that Adobe may not read all of the postings here.  I will try the responsive features in 9 and report back. 

You would think that Articulate, or Adobe or one of these companies would see that it was important to make a rapid e-learning development product that works properly with screen readers. 

There are almost 7,000,000 people between the ages of 16 and 75 who have visual impairments in the US. (Blindness Statistics | National Federation of the Blind )

This is a significant audience.  Whoever gets it right will win the loyalty of over 200,000 instructional designers in the US.  (Instructional Designer (Training & Development) (#38) - Best Jobs - CNNMoney )

RodWard
Community Expert
RodWardCommunity Expert
Community Expert
April 20, 2016

I think I can safely say that Adobe and Articulate and just about every other company out there building rapid elearning authoring software apps are ALL very interested in being able to tout the fact that their app works with screen readers.

However, the fact is that pulling off that particular trick is just not that easy to do in a totally reliable and very consistent way.  There are lots of variables involved and some of the rules around how accessibility should work are quite open to interpretation.  Everybody seems to have a different idea about how it should work in practice.  The result is that nobody is totally happy with the results.

It's a sad situation that I do not think should really be laid at the door of the software companies.  If there's money to be made, you can BET they're more than just interested.

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