Accessible text in Captivate 9?

[dtodd77]

Is there a way to have the HTML5 Captivate published training course with the text accessible? I have students who are dyslexic and who use an app to have the text read to them as they read. Currently, the text is not selectable and so it can not be accessed by the reader app.

[DrPooja]

Hi,

You can add accessibility text for each slide and each object in Captivate. For adding accessibility title and description for a text caption, select the caption, go to the Properties Inspector and click the dropdown button next to the caption name, and select Accessibility. Uncheck Auto Label and add the accessibility name and description. 

Visit this help page for more details: https://helpx.adobe.com/captivate/using/creating-accessible-projects.html

Also, if you have access to Lynda.com, here's a step-by-step demo on Enabling Accessibiliy for Captivate projects: https://www.lynda.com/Captivate-tutorials/Enabling-accessibility/534416/571296-4.html?srchtrk=index%...

Hope this helps!

Pooja

[Justenuf2bdangerous]

Hi - I'm not sure what type of app your students are using, and it can make a difference in the end user experience based on the app. The process described above by Poojah is a solid approach, but can have some unintended consequences, specifically when dealing withtext captions.

For example, if the user is using a JAWS or NVDA screen reader to access text captions in a accessibility enabled Captivate project, it reads the text captions automatically (autofill in this case actually works to your advantage!) - inserting the text into the alt text boxes in the accessibility dropdown will cause the screen reader to read the text on screen, then repeat it again when it accesses the alt text you inserted. Bbecause both of these screen readers are format aware as well (they are used for reading text documents) - they will look for the title, subtitle and content in that order and allow the user to move quickly between the blocks, so use your text caption formats as needed.

[emeliaw21463032]

Hi Everyone,

I am having the same issues as the initial poster. I have entered content and run the NVDA screen reader over this with the published html5 version of mu course in scorm cloud. I cannot get the screen reader to include any of the content. Some of my other issues with trying to get accessibility to work include: tabbing not consistently working and the enter key not allowing me to select when I am on a button that should take me to the next slide. Has anyone else had any of these issues?

I have enable accessibility on, and am using buttons that have the enter key as the shortcut. I do not set the 'restrict keyboard tabbing to slide items only' as this severly limits the user to not being able to clode the course and come back to it at a later stage if they wish.

[Justenuf2bdangerous]

Is the screen reader able to get to the course object when you run the project, or is it hung up in the SCORM Cloud shell and the browser window?

[mferguson192291]

(1) Text captions issue. You cannot use tab navigation setup to get screen readers to focus on the text. Captivate's tab order is only set up for objects deemed interactive (i.e. buttons). You have two solutions. Screen readers come with built in shortcut keys that are not otherwise available to standard users. You can use the up and down arrow keys while using screen readers to navigate your Captivate course according to the "Z-Order" (your slide's timeline from bottom to top). The problem with this is that there is no keyboard focus field when using the up/down arrows to navigate. So it fails 508 compliance there. OR the better option is to do away with text captions altogether. Use ShareShapes. Put Text in the ShapeSmart as well as in the Accessibility box. Activate Use as Button option. Disable/Delete Down and Rollover states. Make sure "No Action" is selected upon the Action tab. And there you go, you have a functioning text box that can be included in the tab order. This only works in HTML5 because in SWF screenreaders identity your SmartShape pseudo-button Text Object as a button for some reason. But in HTML5, the screenreader only identifies your SmartShape textbox as "Clickable" which is technically true since by clicking the "use as button" feature makes it interactive.

(2) Tab Order. Again the Tab order only involves interactive elements such as buttons. It won't tab through everything on the Captivate screen so you need to use the Main Slide Accessibility box or use invisible SmartShape as Button TextBoxs to add alt text into the tab order.

(3) For some reason, for those using screen readers, in order to activate buttons you need to press SHIFT + ENTER. The Enter key by itself won't work, except on the default playbar it does work.

[Justenuf2bdangerous]

Mark is right on target here, screen readers will overlay and override any application of keyboard shortcuts you design into your project - that's why you should try to design to the tab/enter default whenever possible. That said, I am unsuree about #3 - I've used JAWS and NVDA regularly and have always been able to activate my buttons using the tab/enter default - the standard for accessible keyboard shortcuts is two key accessibility combinations - is anyone else seeing the shift key requirement?

As far as the z-order reading default - the only issue you're going to run into is that the z-order in a Captivate project is left to right and slightly up - I have no idea why the slightly up is in there, but it really can make a hash of things depending on your design and text box locations.

Mark is absolutely correct if you intend to use non-standard placements for text - use the smartshapes  as no-action, single state buttons to activate tabbing behaviors. Just be sure your tab order is correct and all the objects are accounted for - sometimes this type of button does not show up in your tab order, or reads out of order - be very careful here and insure each object shows up and stays in the order you have pre-determined.

[mferguson192291]

Regarding the Shift + Enter issue, it is occurring on both JAWS 17 and NVDA on all three major browsers (IE, Firefox, and Chrome) regardless of button type (Text, Image, or Smartshape). I am using Captivate 8 but I did test out Captivate 2017 Trial and notice I still needed to select Shift + Enter. The Enter key by itself simply does it work. I don't think this is a dealbreaker as long as you have slide accessibility text immediately prompt the screen reader on loading the course and explicitly outline navigation in your beginning instructions or navigation tutorial.

Two more comments. First, your Smartshape textboxes will flicker for a second when your have your cursor over them. That is expected since they are technically interactive like any other button. I don't think this will cause much of an issue so long as you make it obvious that your textboxes and buttons are distinguishable and look appropriate. If you are worried that the "Clickable" announcements from screen readers may be problematic for screen reader users, just include prompts in your course navigation instructions that suggest your screen reader users disable the HTML attributes that correspond with those announcements.

To avoid your screen reader from receiving redundant
prompts throughout our courses, please follow these instructions.

For JAWS users, select the JAWS key (typically the Insert
button) and the number six key while in your internet browser to bring up the
JAWS Settings Center. Access the “Modify Schemes …” submenu which can be found
by using the search for settings bar or navigating to the “Speech and Sounds
Schemes” group options. Once selected, go to “Edit Selected Scheme” and
navigate to the HTML tab heading. Select onclick and onmouseover HTML attributes
and select the Ignore radio button. Save your modified Scheme and exit settings
center. You can change these settings back to “Speak HTML Attribute” at any
time if you do not want JAWS to suppress these announcements.

For NVDA screen readers, go to Preferences, select “Document
Formatting”, and remove the checkmark from “Clickable” under the Elements type
options.

[mferguson192291]

Can you describe to me in more detail about the z-order reading default? I am having a hard time imagining the left to right and slightly up description.

[MikeWilday]

an update on this comment. Testing in Adobe captivate revealed to our team that Adobe reads the items from the bottom of the timeline to the top. Just thought that information should be put out there for others to learn from.

[leonorab13410749]

Hi Dr. Pooja,

Loved your courses -- but is there any way that Captivate 2019 has figured out a way that screen readers can read the text without us going through the steps of adding text in the accessible notes/box for each object? 

That takes an amazing abount of time.

Thank you!