Interactive objects not working with Cp 9 and screen readers

Report · Feb 06, 2017

I am working with an interactive project in Cp 9. My 508 tester informed me that she can't get any of the interactive objects we've created (have tried buttons, shape buttons, and click boxes) to activate using the Space or Enter key when a screen reader is running.

She tested in JAWS, I've repeated in NVDA. I went to far as to create a simple project with 2 slides and one each of the objects above. Accessibility text is read correctly, but none of them take an action. The failure caption for the clickbox appears every time I try space or Enter on any of the objects.

If I turn off the screen reader, I can tab between the objects and both space and Enter keys function as I would expect them to.

Using shortcut keys would not be a good option as I have multiple buttons on each slide and have to avoid using any key that screen readers would use for their functions.

Has anyone seen this behavior and/or worked around it?

Thank you,

Jenny Nilsson

Twin Cities Captivate user group manager

Report · Feb 07, 2017

You stated the space or enter key triggers the failure caption for your clickbox - as a starting point, where is the clickbox located on your slide?

Report · Feb 07, 2017

Physically it is just above center. On the timeline it is the middle of the three objects. After seeing your question, I also tested a slide with just a click box and no other objects, I see the same results.

Also have now noticed that when I try activating the text button, it changes state to the "Down" state, but doesn't do anything further. (Shape button doesn't show the same state change.)

Thanks,

Jenny

Report · Feb 07, 2017

Well. you blew my two theories completely out of the water with your last answer....

The click box position and size on your slide should not be interfering with access to the other buttons. (click boxes tend to grab the focus of the tab command if they in any way overlap another interactive when using a screen reader) Since it has a failure or success caption associated with it, can I assume it is reading a variable triggered by some other interaction that can't be accessed, causing the failure feedback to show? If so, is it correctly positioned in the tab order as following the other interactions that must be triggered first?

NVDA and JAWS work consistently when I use the text button format, but I know the smart shape and image buttons still fail the tab/enter test - at least on my system (Windows 10 running IE 11 or Firefox). the fact that you can trigger the "down" state but nothing happens is weird - almost like the screen reader is blocking the action. Can you briefly describe what the actions are that are being triggered and how they connect?

Report · Feb 07, 2017

I kept it simple, all the objects are just set to "jump to next slide". So now I have 4 slides, 1 with all three objects (click box, text button, shape button) and then individual slides with one each.

I'm on Windows 7, Chrome, NVDA 2016.4. I've tested IE and Firefox with similar results.

I've sent the test file to my JAWS tester, haven't heard back yet on results.

Report · Feb 07, 2017

Maybe this is obvious. Did you enable accessibility in the project preferences?

Report · Feb 07, 2017

Yep, first thing I checked.

And the accessibility text is being read correctly, the buttons just don't do what they're supposed to.

Report · Feb 07, 2017

I had to ask. Did you set the tab order?

Report · Feb 07, 2017

I did. Though as I noted above, the problem persists even when a button is the only object on the slide.

Report · Feb 07, 2017

Are you outputting to Flash or HTML5? I notice that the selection rectangle works in Flash, not in HTML5. I just got off the phone with a 508 testing specialist. He told me that the Captivate HTML5 output is not compatible with JAWS because it spits out tables and the DOM is not set up right. Since JAWS reads the DOM, not the screen, that's the issue. So, I ask. Is there a way to edit the DOM of either the SWF or the HTML5 output?

I'll also note that JAWS is not picking up anything not in the tab order in complex interactions. That's my issue that I need solved.

Report · Feb 07, 2017

HTML5 is what I've been working with. I know there's an issue where all objects are read as "clickable" by screen readers, my understanding is that this has to do with the CSS settings, but that it isn't a trivial fix.

Just tried outputting to Flash and none of the accessibility text is read, just "Blank" over and over. If I try hitting space or Enter after tabbing to a button NVDA just reads "Embedded Object"

Report · Nov 02, 2017

Hi All,

Has anybody found a solution to this issue yet, or is this something that will be fixed in a future release of Captivate?

I'm currently working on a module that requires accessibility to be fully functional, and since Captivate doesn't add text captions to the tab order, I am using smart shapes as buttons so that I can manipulate the tab order.

But the issue is around actual buttons that trigger actions, when I publish to Flash, the screen reader (JAWS) will add "button" at the end of the alt text, which is not ideal. If I publish to HTML5, it resolves that issue BUT when I enable the screen reader, the buttons cannot be triggered using Enter/Space bar, unfortunately I can't use shortcuts because there is a number of interactive objects in the slide.

Thanks!