Achieving optimal accessibility and 508 compliance in Captivate 9?

Report · Feb 07, 2017

My development team is trying to come to a consensus about what we need to do to ensure our Captivate-created training modules are as accessible as possible.

This is what we came up with. Are we missing anything? Have we gone overboard anywhere?

GENERAL:

Enable Accessibility in Publish Settings

TEXT SLIDES:

Give each slide a unique title under slide's Properties.
Ensure all on-slide text is screen-readable, tab-able.
Ensure all images on slide have ALT text (unless decorative).
Copy all on-screen text and image ALT text (including title, slide #) to the slide's Accessibility Text dialog box (slide Properties tab). Is this overkill if 1 & 2 & 3 are met, or better to be safe than sorry?

QUIZ SLIDES:

Ensure quizzes are developed using certain native Captivate 9 tools. According to Adobe, "Adobe Captivate includes a set of accessible question types including multiple choice, true and false, and Likert scale. To ensure that your quiz is accessible, limit questions to these types. The short answer and matching question types are not accessible."
Copy the quiz question and answer/distractors to the slide's Accessibility Text dialog box (slide Properties tab). Identify the answer with a special notation (eg. *** TRUE). Is this step necessary? Users with screen readers like JAWS would basically be given the answer to the quiz rather than have a chance to think about the question. Are the built-in quiz accessibility features in the previous step sufficient, such that we can skip this step?

AUDIO

Ensure all audio is closed-captioned using native Captivate 9 tools.
- Is it bad practice if the regular slides have accompanying recorded audio, but the quiz slides do not? Screen readers would read the quiz anyway, right?
Captivate's closed-captions need not be copied to the slide's Accessibility Text dialog box (slide Properties tab). Yes or no?

I appreciate any insights!

Report · Mar 06, 2017

Victory,

I've actually been hunting for a definitive answer for this exact same thing - for years. What I've found (from various sources) is that there is no clear-cut, end-all be-all that catches everything. Primarily because not everyone uses the same screen reader (what works for JAWS may not work for Windows Eyes, etc.). Also, although Adobe promotes Captivate as being 508-capable, the quiz slides leave plenty to be desired. What I've found to be useful and effective is a 508-Compliant/Accessible PDF that I develop for each course. This might sound like doubling my work but it actually doesn't take as long as one might expect.

As long as I keep my storyboard accurate (which includes a column for voiceover/narration text) during review cycles and recording slide audio, I can copy the entire column and paste into a Word doc. Using a customized template for fonts, headings, etc., one could follow the guideline I created for converting this Word doc into an accessible PDF that can accompany the course.

Let me know if you (or anybody else) would be interested in this handy-dandy guideline.

/bobby g.

Report · Mar 06, 2017

@bobby g

I agree with you that creating an accessible document as a text-based alternative version of the course is a far better approach to complying with accessibility requirements...if you can get the client to see reason.

I would love to see your guideline made available to the community. Can you upload it somewhere and post a link?

Report · Mar 07, 2017

Not a problem, Rod. If anyone else is interested, please visit my LinkedIn page <https://www.linkedin.com/in/bobbygarcia7168> and click "See More" under my profile to download the PDF I uploaded.

If you find it useful, GREAT! Feel free to share it or direct others to my LinkedIn page. Also I have very thick-skin so if you have any suggestions/comments/criticisms, share those with me as well. As I always welcome feedback in the spirit of improvement.

Final note: This is not an original idea but rather something I put together after years of begging, borrowing and... being inspired. Hopefully, someone finds it useful because the end results benefit a great community in need of something like this.

God bless.

Report · Mar 27, 2017

bobby.garcia7168

Thanks for the insights, Bobby!

I have been wary of Captivate's out-of-the-box accessibility features. When it comes to testing a file I did not work on myself, I've found it is much easier (and more valuable) to test the source CPTX files, one slide at a time, rather than try to evaluate the output SWF file using tools like Inspect.

It's somewhat frustrating that some features, like the Table of Contents, cannot be controlled (at least not easily), so that users can just tab past it -- even if it's closed -- to the main content's controls.