Forum Discussion
Screen Reader (JAWS) will not read states of buttons (visited or selected) and it can't access a hidden button that has turned normal
I am working on a project where users have to review 7 buttons before the "Next" button which is hidden, changes to normal and allows the user to move on. I have not been able to get JAWS to read or access the Next button after it changes to normal. Additionally, JAWS in no longer reading the states of the buttons (i.e. visited/selected.
I am using SL360 V3.52.25156.0. I also had the same issue with SL3 V 12
I have attached a sample.
Please advise.
Thanks,
EV
Hi everyone!
I have some great news to share! We just released another update for Storyline 360. In Update 81, we've included important fixes and new features.
One of the bugs we've fixed is:
- Screen readers didn't always follow the correct focus order around the player menu or hidden slide objects
Launch the Articulate 360 desktop app on your computer to take advantage of this update, and click the Update button next to Storyline 360. You'll find our step-by-step instructions here.
Please let me know if you need additional help!
Hi Erin!
Thank you so much for bringing this to my attention! I see the same on my end with buttons that have the initial state set to hidden. If you choose to change the initial state to disabled, you can use the keyboard to navigate to the next button.
This doesn't look like an issue with JAWS but an issue with the keyboard navigation in Storyline 360 when a button is set to hidden as the initial state. I see that we've already logged this as a bug, and I will add your comments to our bug report. I'll keep you updated in this discussion.
Again, I appreciate you taking the time to share this with me!
Thanks for the quick reply Lauren. Do you have any information about the states not reading? Selected or Visited states.
Thanks,
EV
Hi Erin!
Yes, we've logged this as a bug where a screen reader doesn't read the states. I've reported this again to my team so we can determine if this is a regression. I appreciate you bringing this to my attention! I'll share any updates in this discussion.
Thank you so much, Erin!
Hello Erin!
Good news! Today, we just released Storyline 360 Update 68 (Build 3.68.28773.0) which included the fix for the bug where states aren't being read by a screen reader.
Now all you need to do is update Storyline 360 in your Articulate 360 desktop app!
If you have additional questions, don't hesitate to reach out in this discussion or in a support case.
Hi there, We are experiencing issues with screen reader not reading the button states (e.g. Visited). Updated today (v3.38.28820.0) with the latest Storyline 360.
Welcome to the E-Learning Heroes community, Veronica!
I see that you’ve reached out to our Support Engineers and are working with my teammate, Darrell. You’re in great hands! We’ll continue the conversation in your support case.
I have updated the accessibility text for the visited state of all my buttons, but JAWS reads them as normal buttons. I thought a previous update was supposed to make JAWS read different buttons states? I'm on Build 3.73.30119.0.
Hello Nicole,
Thanks for reaching out!
You'll need to add the alternative text for each state so JAWS can read them back to your learners.
I tested this using JAWS 2021 and can confirm that adding the 'Alternate text' for the states will allow JAWS to read the states of a button.
Let me know if this works for you!
Hi Joe,
I have already added alt text for all buttons and updated the alt text for the visited state.
I tested using JAWS 2022, with accessible text turned on and the alternate text updated for each button, and JAWS DOES NOT read the state any different than the normal state.
Hi Nicole!
Sorry to hear you've hit this snag, but I'd be happy to help!
I saw your previous post where you mention being on build 3.73.30119.0. Earlier this week we released Storyline version 3.74.30180.0. With that update we saw a fix for:
- Screen readers skipped some objects on layers and unexpectedly changed the state of some hyperlinks.
To take advantage of this update, launch the Articulate 360 desktop app on your computer and click the Update button next to Storyline 360. You can find our step-by-step instructions here!
After that, we'd recommend testing with JAWS again to see if your buttons/states are now being recognized by the screen reader.
Please let me know if you have any more questions!
Hi Steven,
I updated Storyline after my initial message and have since republished the course. I also tried selecting the accessible text option again. I just retested, and JAWS does not read the state of the button, just the normal button text. If it would help, I can upload a few slides from the course so you can see for yourself.
Hi Nicole,
Thanks so much for letting us know. Sorry to hear you're still running into this issue.
I'd love to take a closer look at your file in order to better assist you. Feel free to upload to this thread or privately in a support case.
