Closed Captioning and Objects

[matthewm86786765]

Hi All,

I am using Cap 9 with most current updates. I have a few slides that have action scripts to go to one slide and then go back to the main menu. The audio tells the user to click on the next area when returning to the main menu. The audio is attached to some click boxes. How would I add CC to click boxes or other objects or other ideas?

Thank you All..

[Lilybiri]

The normal CC work flow is only for Slide audio, not for object audio.

You can create text containers with the text, and show them when the CC button is clicked. But that will not work with the CC button on default playbars, you'll need to create a custom CC button, and attach an advanced action to the Success event of that button.

[marya31391609]

Oh my gosh, that's crazy! I have so many advanced actions that trigger audio...and I can't add closed captions to that? This is a pretty big setback to the lengthy courses I'm in development on now. When will Adobe be fixing this feature? (Because this does constitute something that is broken...not just an inconvenience! If Captivate is going to bill itself as "top notch" when it comes to accessibility, then developers shouldn't have to create a hack to work around something as simple as closed captions for all audio!!)

[RodWard]

You're forgetting about Background Audio.  Did you want fries CC with that?

[marya31391609]

Please explain your answer, RodWard. What am I forgetting about background audio?

[Lilybiri]

Sorry to disagree. Slide audio is synchronized with the timeline, can be paused and restarted, hence it looks logical that it can be syncrhonized with the appearance of text.

If you use other audio types that are NOT synchronized or cannot be paused like the Play Audio command, or that can lead to overlapping audio clips like with object audio, I can easily understand that it is pretty impossible to have that triggered by the moving playhead. It would have been possible to trigger a custom text container at the same moment as you start Play Audio, or to fill the shape that has audio attached to it with text.... maybe if you had checked before creatiing the course? That CC only works with slide audio appears many  times on the forum.

[marya31391609]

Thanks for your reply Lilybiri. I do appreciate that you have suggestions when you answer user concerns!

Because the closed captions are tied to the audio clips, closed captions are the last step for me. (I didn't want to have to re-do the closed captions if my reviewers asked for edits that would require replacing some audio.) And because closed captions are tied to the audio clips and not the timeline, It didn't even occur to me that only some audio clips would have this functionality, so I didn't ask the question on the forum. This constraint wasn't in any of the articles I read (on Adobe.com or anywhere else) or tutorials I did before I started.

I moved from private industry to government, and the expectations for accessibility are much, much greater as I think through courses now. If I had the time to read through the entire forum, I'm sure I'd know all the pitfalls before I fall in the pits.

My hope is that some of these concerns make their way to Adobe as they consider future development and upgrades. In organizations where accessibility is important, it's tough to have to come up with hacks and workarounds to make learning available to everyone!

[Lilybiri]

I understand, but tried to explain my intuition why it is not really evident to create a CC solution as exists for slide audio because of the necessary link with the timeline (one of the subjects which after many years of forum visits seems to be the less known). Personally I don't even count on it ever becoming available for object audio and for Play Audio command because of the reasons I mentioned before.

Captivate is such a many-featured application, seriously underestimated by most. After about 10 years of intensive use I still discover workflows and quirks alsmost daily. You can be sure, I have the mind of an explorator, look at my blog.

Glass half full or half empty? It is great that CP has a functional workflox for CC when using slide audio. Same doesn't exist for other type of audio. But you can add custom CC using text containers? Will the glass ever be filled, I doubt it? 

As for accessibility: sometimes I feel it is exaggerated because it will often lead to crippled courses for the majority of learners who are ot disabled. You know that it is not only CC that counts, but all the requirements. Wondering if it wouldn't be better to create two courses.

[Al_Strauss]

"As for accessibility: sometimes I feel it is exaggerated because it will often lead to crippled courses for the majority of learners who are ot disabled."

The way the laws are written, those who are disabled should have the same experience as everyone else. It isn't about providing the same content. And you are right - it is terrible training for those who are lucky enough to not have a disability and I seriously doubt if there is much or any knowledge transfer. It makes e-learning difficult to do effectively and threatens the entire e-learning profession. Again, it is the law.

I have never seen an accessible e-learning course that also has good instructional design outside of those courses created by an IT staff that can write code. 

[marya31391609]

I appreciated the frustration Al. Almost a year after I posted my own frustrated responses here, I've adapted in a way I think is a good fit in my organization. I do create visually appealing content and interactions that go beyond multiple choice and true/false questions, but for every non-accessible interaction, I have an accessible interaction that follows (simple accessible quiz questions not tracked in the user score). I simply publish two versions of each course--one for the majority of our learners with the accessible interactions hidden, and the other for non-mouse users with the inaccessible slides hidden. My workaround for object-level triggered audio cc's is to include the text as part of the object reveal. (Not ideal, but it works.)

This allows me to be creative with course design and still offer those who rely on keystroke navigation and/or closed captions the same level of engagement and validation throughout the course. It takes a little more time to add in those extra slides, but it's really not too bad. There are some folks at Penn State who have published a YouTube video with some good tips as well on button shortcuts, etc.. Accessible Design with Adobe Captivate - YouTube

We all benefit when we challenge ourselves to create great training for EVERYONE in our organizations. Hats off to all who are trying new things and sharing newfound strategies with the rest of us!

[RodWard]

"The way the laws are written, those who are disabled should have the same experience as everyone else."

Can somebody please direct me to the web page or reference where the laws actually state this?  Because, to my understanding, by definition that would be impossible.

[marya31391609]

It's important to keep an open mind about accessibility Rod, and for those of us working in the US for government organizations, we have to keep working toward better and better equivalent experiences. I personally really appreciate others who throw their own strategies in the ring so I have a bigger toolbox of things to try out.

So what does "same experience" mean to me?

If I set out to create a highly engaging course on Respectful Workplace, for example, where learners have knowledge checks asking them to make decisions that indicate that they've internalized the information and can choose appropriate behaviors, I might do that with drag and drop, hotspot, or other (non-accessible) media-rich activities to keep the training design interesting, and I'll probably have one of those interactions after each section of content.

If I create a second version where I replace those drag-and-drop and other activities with multiple choice questions where the questions and answers are the same, I've given the visually or mobility impaired person (because remember, keystroke navigation is an adaptation for a variety of disabilities) an equally engaging experience where they are being asked to make the same decisions, validate the same learning, etc. throughout the course. Learners are able to meet the same learning objectives, and all employees are able to realize the same learning outcomes this way.

If I create a media rich, engaging, exciting, validating, decision-making eLearning course, then tell all non-mouse users that they can just read the Respectful Workplace policy (or listen to screen-reader go through the policy), this does not in any way meet the "same experience" criteria, the learner cannot meet the same objectives, and I cannot expect the same learning outcomes.

[RodWard]

Marya,

I applaud your effort to create engaging and rich experiences for all learners in your target audience.  I think all of us have that goal.

But that wasn't my question.

Where does the accessibility standard or the law actually state that disabled learners must have the same EXPERIENCE as those NOT disabled?

I have never personally seen this particular mandate enshrined in accessibility law.  I have seen many reference where disabled users should have equal access to the same information and/or services as able users (Create Accessible Products ), but that's a very different thing.

I don't live in the USA and none of my current clients are US government organisations.  But I DO happen to have several clients in the Australian government.  So, If this requirement is accurate, I am very interested to see the reference.  It would potentially have a huge impact on courses that I am required to produce for these clients.

So far, I have been able to successfully point my clients to the wording in the accessibility standards that state it is acceptable to provide a fully accessible Text-based alternative version of the same course content delivered to other users in multimedia format.

[Rick_Phillips]

Hi marya31391609 -

I know I'm a few months late, but I came across a similar problem and found your post looking for answers : )

I think Lilybiri's solution to show/hide text containers is a good one in most instances, but it wouldn't work for our government customers either.

From my understanding of Section 508 requirements, you’re giving up two things when you move away from slide-level CC text: synchronous text & focus.  True CC text is usually 7-10 words (not a hard & fast rule, but my rule of thumb) that changes with the spoken words.  It’s also a 508 requirement that CC text matches the timing of what’s being heard/shown.  A text box would work for short clips, but longer clips would need several text popups, and you’d have to arrange the timing either on the timeline or through an advanced action.  That's a LOT of work!  Especially when the built-in CC text is designed to do all of that.  Another thing is that built-in CC text is “special” in that assistive devices know where to go to look for it.  Text boxes are just on-screen text and won’t be tagged the same as built-in CC text for assistive devices.

The solution we came up with is when the user presses “play audio” on Slide 1, they jump to Slide 2 which looks exactly the same as Slide 1, but has its own slide-level audio and CC text.  When the audio ends, the end of slide action navigates them back to Slide 1 and they can continue, re-select the audio or select another audio button (that branches to a different slide).  From the user’s perspective, this all happens on the same slide, but you & I know that they’re jumping around.  This way, you’re using the built-in CC text and you’ll never have audio overlap.  Branching to the rescue! I can't speak for RonWard, but I'm assuming that's what he meant by using the Background Audio?

You can get fancy with visited button states and disabling the Slide 1 intro audio after the first visit depending on how comfortable you are with advanced actions.

Anyway, I appreciate that you're pretty far along in your development and may not be able to restructure.  I just wanted to share this approach in case it helps you or others are functioning under similar restraints.  Best of luck!

[TLCMediaDesign]

If it's HTML 5 you can execute this JavaScript in an advanced action along with playing the audio.

var myCCDiv = wp.document.getElementById("'ccText").getElementsByTagName("p" )[0];

myCCDiv.innerHTML="Enter the CC text here."

You won't be able to time it this way. You could if you played the audio with JavaScript also.