Storyline 360: Creating and Editing Closed Captions With the Built-in Editor
Create and edit closed captions and subtitles right in Storyline 360 with the built-in editor. Fine-tune imported captions or quickly add new ones with the help of caption placeholders that are already synced with your audio and video content. And as of April 2023, Storyline 360 automatically generates synchronized video transcripts from closed captions. Opening the Closed Captions Editor Exploring the Editor Understanding Caption States Previewing Media and Captions Tabbing Back and Forth Between Caption Placeholders Adding or Editing Text in Caption Placeholders Speeding UpYour Workflow for Adding Closed Captions Formatting Caption Text Using Keyboard Shortcuts Adjusting the Timing and Duration of Caption Placeholders Inserting New Caption Placeholders Deleting Captions Splitting Captions Importing Captions Exporting Captions Translating Captions Closing the Editor and Saving or Discarding Your Changes Showing or Hiding the Closed Captioning Button on the Player Using Triggers to Turn Closed Captions On and Off Opening the Closed Captions Editor Select a video or audio track in your course, go to the Options tab on the Storyline ribbon, then click either Add Captions or Edit Captions. The button will change depending on whether your media clip already has captions. If you’re working with an interactive marker, right-click the marker, select Accessibility from the context menu, then click either Add Captions or Edit Captions in the window that appears. You can also open the caption editor from the media library. Details here. Tip: Caption Placeholders Are Created for You If your media clip doesn’t already have captions, the closed captions editor will automatically analyze the audio track to detect units of speech and add caption placeholders to the timeline that are synchronized with your content. All you need to do is type your captions in the placeholders. Brilliant! Background music can interfere with the auto-generated caption placeholders, so you might need to tweak the timing of captions, add more caption placeholders, or split captions into smaller chunks. The closed captions editor works with all narration and videos, except website videos. Exploring the Editor Explore this image of the closed captions editor and the numbered list below it for an overview of the interface. See the sections that follow for details on each feature. # Feature Description 1 Ribbon Commands Use the ribbon to: Preview your media and captions Jump back and forth between caption placeholders Insert new caption placeholders Delete caption placeholders Split caption placeholders Import captions Export captions Close the editor 2 Video Stage When you’re working with a video, it'll display on the video stage. When you’re working with an audio clip, the video stage disappears and the audio waveform fills the editor. 3 Closed Captions Preview As you type captions into the placeholders at the bottom of the editor, they’ll display on the video stage or audio waveform so you can see how they’ll look in your published output. 4 Timeline and Playhead The timeline shows the duration of your media, and the blue playhead travels along the timeline as you preview your video and audio content. 5 Audio Waveform The audio waveform is a visual representation of the audio track in your media. If there’s no video component for your media, the audio waveform will expand to fill the stage. 6 Caption Placeholders Caption placeholders are where you type and format text. You can also adjust the timing and duration of caption placeholders. If your media clip doesn’t already have captions, the closed captions editor will automatically analyze the audio track to detect units of speech and add caption placeholders to the timeline that are synchronized with your content. All you need to do is type your captions in the placeholders. Caption placeholders have four states, so you know what to expect when creating and editing captions. See the next section to learn about caption states. 7 Time Values The status bar shows you the current position of the playhead on the timeline, the start time of the selected caption placeholder, and the end time of the selected caption placeholder. 8 Zoom Slider Use the zoom slider in the lower right corner to zoom the timeline, audio waveform, and caption placeholders in and out when you need to make precise edits or get a big-picture overview. Understanding Caption States Caption placeholders have four states as described in this table. State Appearance Example Unselected caption placeholder without text Solid light gray Unselected caption placeholder with text Dark gray with white text Selected caption placeholder (with or without text) Blue with white text Caption placeholder in edit mode Dark gray with blue outline, white text, and blinking cursor The closed captions editor may behave differently, depending on the current state of a caption. See the following sections for details. For example, if no captions are in edit mode when you preview, playback will continue to the end of the timeline unless you pause it. However, if a caption is in edit mode when you preview, playback will stop at the end of the caption placeholder. And if you resume playback while the caption is still in edit mode, it'll start from the beginning of the current caption placeholder and stop again at the end. This helps you create captions one at a time, letting you hear a clip as many times as you need while typing. Previewing Media and Captions To preview the entire video or audio track, move the playhead to the beginning of the timeline—before the first caption placeholder—then click the Play button on the ribbon or press Enter on your keyboard. Drag the seekbar on the ribbon or the playhead on the timeline to scrub back and forth through the video or audio track. To preview just one caption, click inside the placeholder so it’s in edit mode. Playback will start as soon as you click inside it and stop when it reaches the end of the caption. To pause the preview, click the Pause button on the ribbon or press Enter. Caption placeholders that have text will display on the video stage or audio waveform during preview. (The size of a caption box and the point at which text wraps could change, depending on the size of the closed captions editor window.) Tabbing Back and Forth Between Caption Placeholders Press the Tab key on your keyboard to jump to the beginning of the next caption, and press Shift+Tab to jump to the beginning of the previous caption. Or, click the left and right arrows on the ribbon to move back and forth between captions. If no captions are in edit modewhen you navigate between them, the playhead will simply move to the previous or next caption, but the media won’t start playing until you tell it to. If a caption placeholder is in edit mode when you jump to another caption, the new caption placeholder will also switch to edit mode so you can immediately start typing. Tip: By using the Tab key to move through caption placeholders in edit mode and pressing Enter to play/pause media, you never have to take your hands off the keyboard while typing captions, speeding up your workflow. Adding or Editing Text in Caption Placeholders To add or edit caption text, simply click inside a caption placeholder and begin typing. You can also paste text from external sources, such as text files or Word documents. When you click inside a caption placeholder, it switches to edit modeand your media automatically begins playing. If you need to pause it, just press Enter. To resume playback, press Enter again. If you need to add a line break to a caption, pressShift+Enter. Speeding UpYour Workflow for Adding Closed Captions By using keyboard shortcuts, you can quickly add closed captions to a video or audio track in Storyline 360. Here’s how: When you open the closed captions editor, the playhead will be positioned at the beginning of the first caption placeholder, and it'll be in edit mode. Press Enter to start playing your video or audio track, then begin typing text for the first caption based on what you hear. Playback will stop at the end of the placeholder so you have time to finish typing the caption. If you need to hear it again, just press Enter and it'll start over from the beginning of the placeholder. You can also use Enter to pause playback. Press Tab to move to the next caption placeholder. It'll switch to edit mode, and your media will being playing. Simply type what you hear. Playback will stop at the end of the placeholder so you have time to finish typing the caption. If you need to hear it again, just press Enter and it'll start over from the beginning of the placeholder. You can also use Enter to pause playback. Repeat step 2 to add captions, one placeholder at a time, until you reach the end of the timeline. Formatting Caption Text Bold, Italic, and Underline: Closed captions in Storyline 360 can have bold, italic, and underline formatting. Just select the text you want to format, then use the floating toolbar to make your selections. Or, use these keyboard shortcuts: Ctrl+B = Bold Ctrl+I = Italicize Ctrl+U = Underline Colors, Font, Font Size, and Position: You can choose the foreground and background colors, font, size, and position of your captions in the player properties. Learn more. Voice Tags: The closed captions editor doesn’t support voice tags, but you can identify speakers by typing their names with colons before their statements.(Press Shift+Enter to adda line break between speakers.) For example: Adam: E-learning is powerful. Lucy: And it’s transforming lives every day. If you importa caption file that has voice tags, the tags will be converted to the speakers’ names followed by colons, as shown above. Using Keyboard Shortcuts Work faster in the closed captions editor with these keyboard shortcuts. Key(s) Function Enter Play and pause media Shift+Enter Add a line break when typing text into a caption placeholder Tab Jump to the beginning of the next caption placeholder Shift+Tab Jump to the beginning of the previous caption placeholder Esc Exit edit mode for the current caption placeholder and switch to a blue selected state Ctrl+A Select all the text in a caption placeholder Ctrl+B Bold Ctrl+C Copy Ctrl+I Italicize Ctrl+U Underline Ctrl+V Paste Ctrl+X Cut Ctrl+Y Redo Ctrl+Z Undo Left Arrow If the playhead is at the beginning or end of a caption placeholder and the placeholder is in a selected state, the left arrow key moves the placeholder .25 seconds to the left on the timeline (or less than that if it bumps up against the previous caption placeholder). Otherwise, the left arrow key moves only the playhead .25 seconds to the left on the timeline. Right Arrow If the playhead is at the beginning or end of a caption placeholder and the placeholder is in a selected state, the right arrow key moves the placeholder .25 seconds to the right on the timeline (or less than that if it bumps up against the next caption placeholder). Otherwise, the right arrow key moves only the playhead .25 seconds to the left on the timeline. Shift+Left Arrow If the playhead is at the beginning or end of a caption placeholder and the placeholder is in a selected state, this shortcut moves the placeholder .5 seconds to the left on the timeline (or less than that if it bumps up against the previous caption placeholder). Otherwise, this shortcut moves only the playhead .5 seconds to the left on the timeline. Shift+Right Arrow If the playhead is at the beginning or end of a caption placeholder and the placeholder is in a selected state, this shortcut moves the placeholder .5 seconds to the right on the timeline (or less than that if it bumps up against the next caption placeholder). Otherwise, this shortcut moves only the playhead .5 seconds to the right on the timeline. Alt+Left Arrow When a caption placeholder is selected, shorten its duration by .25 seconds. Alt+Right Arrow When a caption placeholder is selected, lengthen its duration by .25 seconds (or less than that if it bumps up against the next caption placeholder). Shift+Alt+Left Arrow When a caption placeholder is selected, shorten its duration by .5 seconds. Shift+Alt+Right Arrow When a caption placeholder is selected, lengthen its duration by .5 seconds (or less than that if it bumps up against the next caption placeholder). Ctrl+Left Arrow This shortcut moves the playhead to the beginning of the current caption placeholder or the end of the previous placeholder, whichever is closest. This shortcut doesn’t work when a caption placeholder is in edit mode. Ctrl+Right Arrow This shortcut moves the playhead to the end of the current caption placeholder or the beginning of the next placeholder, whichever is closest. This shortcut doesn’t work when a caption placeholder is in edit mode. Ctrl+Mouse Wheel Zoom the timeline in and out Adjusting the Timing and Duration of Caption Placeholders To adjust the timing of a caption, simply drag the placeholder left or right along the timeline. To change the duration of a caption, drag either end of the placeholder along the timeline to shorten or lengthen it. You can also use several arrow keyboard shortcuts in the table above to tweak the timing and duration of caption placeholders. Inserting New Caption Placeholders Although the closed captions editor does its best to create caption placeholders for you that are already synced with your content, there may be times when you need to manually add a caption placeholder to the timeline. Click any space on the timeline that isn’t already occupied by a caption placeholder. The blue playhead will move to that position on the timeline. Then click Insert Caption on the ribbon. New captions are four seconds long by default—unless there isn’t enough space to fit a four-second placeholder, in which case it'll fill the available space. You need at least half a second of empty space on the timeline to insert a new caption placeholder. If there isn’t enough space, the Insert Caption button will be grayed out. Deleting Captions There are three ways to delete a specific caption: Select the caption placeholder and press Delete on your keyboard. Select the placeholder and click Delete Caption on the ribbon. Right-click the placeholder and choose Delete from the context menu. To delete all captions at once, click Delete Captions on the ribbon, then click Yes on the confirmation message. Splitting Captions You can split a caption into two placeholders when you need more control over timing and duration. Just select the placeholder and click Split Caption on the ribbon. Or, right-click the placeholder and choose Split Captionfrom the context menu. The original placeholder will split evenly in half. And if it has text, the text will split where the cursor is located—everything before the cursor will move to the first placeholder; everything after the cursor will move to the second placeholder. Exception: If the playhead is at the beginning of the caption and the placeholder is in a blue selected state, all the text will move to the first placeholder after being split. Importing Captions If you already have captions typed in a document, you can import them via the closed captions editor. Note that this replaces all the existing captions for your video or audio track. Click Import Captions on the ribbon. Click Yes when asked to confirm that you want to replace the existing captions. Browse to the SRT, SBV, SUB, or VTT file you want to import and click Open. You can also import caption files without opening the closed captions editor. See this user guide for details. Exporting Captions Export closed captions when you need to use them in another project, edit them with a different app, or save a backup copy. Click Export Captions on the ribbon, choose a location where you want to save the caption file, then click Save. When you export captions from the closed captions editor, it generates a VTT file. Translating Captions Export the captions file for each video or audio track in your course, translate it, then import it back into Storyline. Here’s how: If the closed captions editor is open, click Export Captions on the ribbon and save the file to your computer. You can also export captions without opening the closed captions editor. Just select the video or audio track, go to the Options tab on the Storyline ribbon, and click Export. Open the captions file in a text editor or a translation program, replace the captions with translated text, and save the file with your changes. In Storyline, select the video or audio track again, go to the Options tab on the ribbon, and click Import to bring the translated captions back into your course. Closed captions aren’t included when you export text strings from your course for translation. Closing the Editor and Saving or Discarding Your Changes To save your changes, click Save & Close on the ribbon. To discard your changes, click the X in the upper right corner or go to the File tab on the ribbon and click Exit. Showing or Hiding the Closed Captioning Button on the Player The closed captioning button on the course player is enabled by default, but you can disable it if you plan to build your own custom controls. Click here for details. Using Triggers to Turn Closed Captions On and Off If the closed captioning button is enabled on your course player (see above), learners can toggle captions on and off whenever they want. However, you can also control captions via triggers. Click here for details.Storyline 360: Importing Closed Captions for Narration and Videos
Make your Storyline 360 courses more accessible for learners who are deaf or hard of hearing by importing closed captions and subtitles for narration and videos. Just insert standard SRT, VTT, SBV, or SUB files. Don’t have caption files to import? No problem. Create closed captions and subtitles from scratch with the built-in editor. PreparingYour Caption Files Importing Captions Deleting Captions Exporting Captions Customizing Your Closed Captions Showing or Hiding the Closed Captioning Button on the Player Using Triggers to Turn Closed Captions On and Off Preparing Your Caption Files Storyline 360 supports SRT, VTT, SBV, and SUB files generated by third-party captioning services, such as YouTube, Amara, and 3PlayMedia. Here are some tips to make sure your caption files are properly formatted for Storyline 360. Storyline 360 supports bold, italic, and underline formatting in caption files as well as voice tags to indicate which person is speaking. All other formatting tags, such as font and font color, will be ignored. (Use the closed caption settings in the player properties to format your captions.) A caption will automatically wrap if it’s too long to fit on a single line. However, if you need a caption to break at a specific point, add one line break in your caption file in the appropriate place. On the other hand, if you need to split a caption into two separate caption boxes that display simultaneously, add two line breaks in your caption file. You might do this when two people are speaking and you want each speaker’s dialogue to display in its own caption box. If some letters or characters in your captions are unexpectedly replaced by symbols in Storyline 360, make sure your caption files are encoded for UTF-8. Importing Captions Closed captions are supported for audio tracks and videos. You can import captions simultaneously with your media, or you can import captions separately. We describe both options in the table below. Import Captions Simultaneously with Media If your caption files have the same names as your media files and are stored in the same folder with the media, they’ll automatically import into Storyline 360 when you import your media. For example, if I have a video called MyVideo.mp4 and the corresponding caption file is named MyVideo.srt and is located in the same folder, I only need to import the video into my Storyline 360 project, and the captions will automatically import and sync with the video. To learn how to import audio and video files into Storyline 360, see these user guides: Importing Audio Files Importing Video Files Import Captions After Adding Media To import captions after adding media to your Storyline 360 project: Select the audio track or video that you want to caption. Go to the Options tab on the ribbon and click Import. Browse to the caption file you want to import, then click Open. Another way to import captions is to right-click the video placeholder or the speaker icon that represents your audio track, choose Accessibility, then click the Import icon. (View this user guide to learn more about the Size and Position window.) Note about captions in markers: When you right-click an interactive marker and choose Accessibility, you’ll see closed caption features for audio and video since a marker can have both types of media at the same time. Pro Tips: You can import closed captions from the ribbon or the Size and Position window, as described above. Even better, you can use the media library to import and manage closed captions for all audio clips and videos in your project. Check it out! You can add captions to all audio clips and videos, except website videos. Storyline 360 automatically generates synchronized video transcripts from closed captions. Deleting Captions To delete captions you previously added: Select the audio track or video that has captions you want to remove. Go to the Options tab on the ribbon and click Delete. (It will be grayed-out if there aren’t any captions to delete.) Exporting Captions Need to export captions from Storyline 360 so you can edit them or use them in another project? Here’s how: Select the audio track or video that has captions you want to export. Go to the Options tab on the ribbon and click Export. (It'll be grayed-out if there aren’t any captions to export.) Choose a location where you want to save your caption file, then click Save. Exported captions alwaysgenerate a VTT file. Customizing Your Closed Captions Choose the foreground and background colors, font, size, and position of your captions. In the player properties window, click Colors & Effects on the ribbon, then use the Closed Captions formatting options. Then, click OK to save and close the player settings. If you’re using the classic player, you can choose the captions font. You can also set the font size for all player elements and captions as a single unit by adjusting the Player font size percentage. Showing or Hiding the Closed Captioning Button on the Player The closed captioning button on the course player is enabled by default, but you can disable it if you plan to build your own custom controls or use accessible video controls. Go to the Home tab on the ribbon and click Player. When the player properties open, mark the Captions box to show the closed captioning button or uncheck it to hide the closed captioning button. Click OK to save and close the player settings. Tips for interacting with the closed captioning button: The closed captioning button may not always be visible throughout your course. It’s only visible when captions are available on the current slide or layer. It’ll disappear for slides and layers that don’t have captions. This gives learners a visual clue when captions are available. When a learner clicks the closed captioning button to turn on captions, the button will remain turned on throughout the course until the learner clicks it again to turn it off. Using Triggers to Turn Captions On and Off If the closed captioning button is enabled on your course player (see above), learners can toggle captions on and off whenever they want. However, you can also control captions via triggers. Just adjust the built-in Player.DisplayCaptions variable to either True (on) or False (off). Here are a couple scenarios where you might control captions via triggers and how to set them up. Turn Captions On by Default Captions are turned off by default, but if most of your learners need captions, you might want to turn them on automatically when the course starts. Just add a trigger to the first slide in your course with these trigger wizard parameters: Action: Adjust variable Operator: = Set Variable: Player.DisplayCaptions Value: Value = True When: Timeline starts Object: Select the first slide in your course from the drop-down list. Build Your Own Custom Navigation Buttons If you disable the built-in player features and build your own custom navigation buttons, you can use triggers to show and hide captions. Just add a trigger to a button with these trigger wizard parameters to create a toggle: Action: Adjust Variable Operator: Toggle Variable: Player.DisplayCaptions When: User clicks Object: Select your custom button from the drop-down list.Build an Accessible Drag and Drop Interaction in Storyline
If you've ever needed to build an accessible course in Storyline, you may know that the built in drag and drop interactions are not accessible (see the VPAT). However, with some extra work it is possible to create your own drag and drop interaction in Storyline that is fully accessible. The issue with drag and drop interactions and accessibility is that people who access the computer using only a keyboard or assistive input device, and no mouse, cannot click-and-drag. So, the interaction must have another option, that works through the use of keyboard inputs (typically, the tab and enter keys). In Storyline triggers, anything that is done "on click" can be mimicked by a keyboard or other input device. To build a keyboard-accessible drag and drop requires building a second set of triggers that function using click-based rather than drag-based interactions. Here is how to build your own keyboard accessible drag and drop interaction in Storyline. Please note that you may include other elements that are not fully accessible. Take a look at theWCAG Guidelines to evaluate other aspects of your course creation This interaction relies on a user-selected submit button. This button needs to be on the slide, as the triggers used are not compatible with the built-in submit button in the Storyline player. Note: It will be easiest to create all layers, elements, and states before creating the triggers. LAYERS NEEDED Base Layer – Most of the triggers will be on the base layer. Correct – A feedback layer for when the user submits the interaction, when all items have been moved to the correct drop location. Incorrect – A feedback layer for when the user submits the interaction, when the interaction is incomplete or some items have been moved to the wrong location on the screen. BASE LAYER Elements Needed Drag items – one or more Drop targets – one or more Submit button – one Drag Item States Normal - The built in state. This does not need to be modified. Selected - Create a “Selected” state. Make sure to edit the selected state to include a visual indicator that the item is selected. An easy way to do this is to add a “glow” shape effect in a color contrasting the object. Drop Correct - Create the “Drop Correct” state. You may want to visually signal that the drop was completed. One way to do this is to darken or desaturate the object in the “drop correct” state. Drop Incorrect - Create the “Drop Incorrect” state. Make this state visually identical to the Drop Correct state. Triggers Submit Button 1. Show layer Correct when user clicks If Drag item 1 state equals Drop correct And Drag item 2 state equals Drop correct … (Continue through the rest of the drag items) 2. Show layer Incorrect when user clicks If Drag item 1 state does not equal Drop correct Or Drag item 2 state does not equal Drop correct … (Continue through the rest of the drag items) Drag Items For each drag item: 1. Change the item’s state to Drop Correct when it is dropped on the right drop target Change state of Drag Item 1 to Drop Correct when user drops Drag Item 1 on Drop Target 1 2. “Deselect” all other drag items when this drag item is selected (Change other drag items’ states to Normal, if they are currently selected) Change state of Drag Item 2 to Normal when user clicks Drag Item 1 If Drag Item 2 state is equal to Selected Change state of Drag Item 3 to Normal when user clicks Drag Item 1 If Drag Item 3 state is equal to Selected … (add this trigger for all other drag items on screen) 3. Change the item’s state to Drop Incorrect when it is dropped the wrong drop target(s) Change state of Drag Item 1 to Drop Incorrect when user drops Drag Item 1 on either Drop Target 2 or Drop Target 3 … (include all incorrect drop targets in the list) Drop Targets For each drop target: 1. Move the selected Drag Item along a motion path to the Drop Target when the user selects the drop target. NOTE: The move triggers MUST be before the state change triggers in the list Move Drag Item 1 on Motion Path* when the user clicks Drop Target 1 If Drag Item 1 state is equal to Selected * For the motion path, create a line motion path with start and end points in the center of the drop target. This will move the object to the correct location without showing movement on screen. Make sure to go into the path options and select “locked” for origin. This will ensure that no matter where on the slide the object starts from, it will move to the correct position with the trigger. Name the motion path something descriptive so you can identify it in the trigger list (ex: Drag 1 to Drop 1 Path). NOTE: When you create a motion path, Storyline automatically adds a trigger to the object to follow the motion path when the slide timeline starts. Make sure to go in and remove all of these triggers. … Make this trigger for all drag items on the slide. 2. Change the state of the corresponding Drag Item to Drop Correct, if the Drag Item is selected Change State of Drag Item 1 to Drop Correct when the user clicks Drop Item 1 if Drag Item 1 state is equal to Selected 3. Change state of the selected drag item to Drop Incorrect for all drag items that do not match with this drop target Change State of Drag Item 2 to Drop Incorrect when the user clicks Drop Item 1 if Drag Item 2 state is equal to Selected … Make this trigger for all remaining drag objects on the slide. CORRECT LAYER Elements Text box(es) Continue button Triggers Continue button Jump to next slide INCORRECT LAYER Elements Text box(es) Try Again button Triggers Try Again button Jump to slide (current slide) – this restarts the interaction on the slide base layer NOTE: Make sure the slide is set to “Reset to initial state” for the “when revisiting” selection in the slide properties. And there you have it! It looks like a lot, but once you've done it a time or two you can get the hang of it. Below is an example .story file of this interaction. It uses the same names as the instructions above so you can see how this all looks in a project.6 Best Practices for Designing Accessible E-Learning
If you’re struggling with creating e-learning that meets the highest standards of accessibility, we’ve got the e-book for you. In this free guide, we’ll walk you through the many choices you’ll need to make to design courses that meet popular accessibility standards, such as Section 508 and WCAG. You’ll learn: What accessibility means in the e-learning setting How to make sure your course can be navigated with keyboards What needs to be included in your alt text How to order images and text on screen for clarity The best way to create highly-usable course navigation What to consider when you’re including audio and video in your course Great ways to make sure your screencasts are totally accessible And you’ll get a handy list of do’s and don’ts you can can refer to any time.All About Accessibility
General What Is Accessible E-Learning? Accessibility for E-Learning: Webinar Series 2023 4 Reasons Accessibility Is Important in E-Learning 6 Easy Ways to Make Your E-Learning More Accessible How To Write Alt Text for the 4 Most Common Types of Images in E-Learning All About Assistive Technologies Accessible E-Learning & Screen Readers: What You Need to Know How To Test Your E-Learning Course with a Screen Reader A Checklist for QA Testing Courses with a Screen Reader 9 Basic Screen Reader Commands to Know When Testing Your E-Learning Courses 5 Formatting Tips for Creating Dyslexia-Friendly E-Learning “But It’s to Code”: Thoughts on Accessibility in E-Learning What Is 508 Compliance for E-Learning and How Can You Achieve It? Our Top Section 508 Compliance Resources for E-Learning Understanding WCAG: A Quickstart Guide for E-Learning Developers Contrast Considerations for Accessible E-Learning 5 Ways to Convince Stakeholders to Create Accessible Courses Why I’m Prioritizing E-Learning Accessibility—and You Should Too Elevate Your E-Learning by Prioritizing Accessibility and Usability Accessibility Index Storyline 360 17 Storyline 360 Features That’ll Help You Design Accessible E-Learning 4 Things To Know About Storyline 360 Courses and Screen Readers 5 Common Questions About How Storyline 360 Courses Work with Screen Readers Accessible Text Features in Storyline 360 The Storyline 360 Player Just Got More Accessible Storyline 360: Adding Alternative Text for Screen Readers Storyline 360: Importing Closed Captions for Narration and Videos Storyline 360: Creating and Editing Closed Captions With the Built-in Editor Storyline 360: Customizing the Focus Order of Slide Objects Make Your Storyline 360 Courses More Accessible with These New Features 5 Big Accessibility Enhancements We Made to Storyline 360 in 2020 Storyline 360: Our Accessibility Journey Storyline 360: How to Design an Accessible Course Storyline 3 New in Storyline 3: A More Accessible Learning Experience Storyline 3: Adding Alternative Text for Screen Readers Storyline 3: Importing Closed Captions for Narration and Videos Storyline 3: Creating and Editing Closed Captions with the Built-In Editor Storyline 3: Customizing the Focus Order of Slide Objects Rise 360 3 Insights About How Rise 360 Courses Work with Screen Readers Rise 360: Our Accessibility Journey New in Rise 360: Add Closed Captions to Videos Rise 360: How to Design an Accessible CourseStoryline: Accessible Drag-and-Drop Chat Interaction
Are you looking to create more engaging interactions that everyone can experience? Some course creators mistakenly think they have to avoid certain online learning activities in order to meet accessibility guidelines. This accessible Storyline 360 drag-and-drop chat template dispels that misconception and shows just how easy it is to create engaging interactions that work for every learner. If you’re an Articulate 360 subscriber, you can get a behind-the-scenes look at how to create something like this by checking out the webinar I did on How to Create an Accessible Drag-and-Drop Interaction in Storyline 360. Explore this project.Storyline 360: Adding Tables
Use tables to structure textin Storyline 360. Tables communicate to screen readers how content is organized and provide context for learners, making tables valuable for accessibility. In this user guide, you’ll learn everything there is to know about tables in Storyline 360. Creating Tables Adding Text to Table Cells Turning the Header Row On or Off Banding Rows with Alternating Colors Applying Quick Styles to Tables Selecting Cells, Rows, and Columns Filling Cells, Rows, Columns, and Tables with Colors and Gradients Working with Borders Sizing Rows, Columns, and Tables Inserting Rows and Columns Merging and Splitting Cells Deleting Rows, Columns, and Tables Aligning Text in Table Cells Formatting Text in Table Cells Adding Hyperlinks Adjusting Cell Margins Using Scrolling Panels to Scroll Lengthy Tables Setting a CustomFocus Order for Table Cells Making Tables Accessible Creating Tables Here are three quick ways to add tables in Storyline 360: Create Tables in Storyline You can create tables from scratch in Storyline 360. Go to the Insert tab on the ribbon and click Table. Highlight the number of rows and columns you want, then left-click your mouse. Your table will automatically appear on the slide. You can add and delete rows and columns, add text, and format the table as you’d like. Import Tables from PowerPoint If you have tables in PowerPoint that you want to use, import them into Storyline 360 with all your text and formatting intact, then edit them as you’d like. View this user guide to learn how to import PowerPoint slides. Copy and Paste Tables from Other Sources If there are tables on web pages or in other programs, such as Excel, that you want to use, copy and paste them into Storyline 360. Highlight the table and press Ctrl+C to copy it. Then go to the slide in Storyline 360 where you want the table to appear and press Ctrl+V to paste it. After pasting the table into Storyline 360, you can edit the text and format it as you’d like. Adding Text to Table Cells You can add text to any cell by clicking in the cell and typing the text you want to display. You can also copy and paste text into cells. And you can insertvariable references from the ribbon. To move from one cell to the next without using your mouse, click the Tab key on your keyboard. Tabbing through a table goes from left to right and top to bottom. You can also use the arrow keys on your keyboard to move around a table. Note: Tables don’t support images or other media. Turning the Header Row On or Off You can identify the top row of a table as a header row to make it stand out. Select the table, then go to the Table Tools—Design tab on the ribbon and mark the Header Row box. You can also turn a header row off by unchecking the Header Row box. Banding Rows with Alternating Colors You can quickly format tables with banded rows—alternating colors that help learners distinguish one row of data from another. Select the table, then go to the Table Tools—Design tab on the ribbon and mark the Banded Rows box. Or, uncheck the Banded Rows box to turn off color banding. When banded rows are enabled, you can control the colors with quick styles. Tip: When creating tables from scratch in Storyline 360, banded rows are enabled by default. Applying Quick Styles to Tables Format tables in a snap with Storyline 360’s gallery of ready-made table styles. Select the table you want to customize, go to the Table Tools—Design tab on the ribbon, and click a style from the Table Styles drop-down list. Tip: The color choices in the style gallery come from your theme colors. Selecting Cells, Rows, and Columns Here are tips for quickly selecting cells, rows, columns, or an entire table when you want to edit fill colors, borders, cell margins, alignment, and text. Select a single cell by clicking in that cell. Select multiple adjacent cells by clicking and dragging your mouse across them, or you can Shift+click several cells to select them all at once. Select an entire row by hovering your mouse outside the left edge of the row until your cursor changes to a black arrow, then simply left-click your mouse. If you left-click and drag your mouse up or down, you can select multiple rows at once. Select an entire column by hovering your mouse above the top edge of the column until your cursor changes to a black arrow, then left-click your mouse. If you left-click and drag your mouse to one side or the other, you can select multiple columns at once. Select an entire table by clicking its outside border. Filling Cells, Rows, Columns, and Tables with Colors and Gradients Quick styles are a great way to format simple tables, but you have complete control over the fill color of each cell in a table. Select the cells, rows, or columnsyou want to format, go to the Table Tools—Design tab on the ribbon, and use the Fill drop-down list to select a color or gradient: The default color swatches come from your project’s theme colors. Storyline 360 also provides 10 standard color swatches. No Fill removes all colors from the selected cells. Anything behind the cells will show through. Click More Fill Colors to define your own custom colors. Use the Eyedropper to select any color visible on your screen. Use the Gradient list to select a preformatted gradient or click More Gradients to open the Format Shape window where you can create your own gradient fill. Working with Borders To customize borders or outlines in a table, select the cells, rows, or columnsyou want to format, go to the Table Tools—Design tab on the ribbon, and follow these steps: Use the border style selector to choose the type of outline you want, such as solid, dotted, or dashed. Use the border width selector to choose a line thickness. Use the border color selector to choose a line color. (The default color swatches come from your theme colors.) Finally, use the Borders drop-down list to choose which borders in your selected cells should be updated with the style, width, and color you defined in the previous steps. You can repeat this step as many times as necessary to select all the borders you want to format. Borders that you format will be highlighted in the Borders drop-down list (see image below). To undo your border formatting, click any of the highlighted borders to turn them off. For example, let’s say you apply formatting to All Borders, then decide you don’t want columns to have vertical dividers. Click Inside Vertical Border to deselect it. This clears your column dividers but leaves your outside borders and row dividers intact. Tip: To completely remove all borders for the selected cells, click the Borders drop-down list and choose No Borders. You don’t need to select a style, width, or color. Sizing Rows, Columns, and Tables The quickest way to size a row is to drag its boundary up or down. And to size a column, drag its boundary left or right. Another way to change the size of a row or column is to click inside a cell, then go to the Table Tools—Format tab on the ribbon and adjust the Height and Width values in the Cell Size group. (Note that this method also adjusts the overall size of your table.) To evenly size rows or columns so they’re the same size, select the rows or columnsyou want to adjust, then click either Distribute Rows or Distribute Columns. Inserting Rows and Columns Here are three quick ways to add rows and columns to a table: Use the Format Tab on the Ribbon Add a row or column by going to the Table Tools—Format tab on the ribbon and clicking Insert Above, Insert Below, Insert Left, or Insert Right. To insert multiple rows or columns at the same time,select more than one row or column in your table, then use the buttons on the ribbon to insert rows or columns. Storyline 360 will insert the same number of rows or columns as you have selected. For example, if you select three rows in your table and click Insert Above, Storyline 360 will add three new rows to your table. New rows and columns will be the same size as the ones you selected before inserting them. Use the Right-Click Context Menu Another way to add a row or column is to select an existing row or columnin your table, then right-click, scroll to Insert, and choose one of the options. To insert multiple rows or columns at the same time,select more than one existing row or columnin your table, then use the buttons on the ribbon to insert rows or columns. Storyline 360 will insert the same number of rows or columns as you have selected. For example, if you select three rows in your table and click Insert Above, Storyline 360 will add three new rows to your table. New rows and columns will be the same size as the ones you selected before inserting them. Tab Past the Last Cell in the Table You can navigate through your table from cell to cell by clicking Tab on your keyboard. When you get to the last cell in the table and click Tab, Storyline 360 will add a new row to the end of your table. Merging and Splitting Cells Merging Cells To merge cells, select two or more adjacent cells, then go to the Table Tools—Format tab on the ribbon and click Merge Cells. You can also right-click selected cells and choose Merge Cells from the context menu. All the contents of the individual cells will be merged into one big cell. Splitting Cells Only cells that have previously been merged can be split. To split a cell, click in the cell to select it, then go to the Table Tools—Format tab on the ribbon and click Split Cells. You can also right-click a cell and choose Split Cells from the context menu. The cell will be split into the same number of cells that were previously merged. All the contents of the merged cell will appear in the first of the split cells. Deleting Rows, Columns, and Tables It’s easy to delete rows and columns. Select the rows or columnsyou want to remove, then go to the Table Tools—Format tab on the ribbon. Click Delete and choose either Delete Rows or Delete Columns. You can also right-click your selection and choose either Delete Rows or Delete Columns. To delete an entire table, click the border of the table to select it, then press the Delete key on your keyboard. Aligning Text in Table Cells Here are several ways to change horizontal and vertical alignment as well as text direction (rotation) and text orientation: Use the Format Tab on the Ribbon Select the cells, rows, or columnsyou want to edit and go to the Table Tools—Format tab on the ribbon. Use the options for horizontal alignment, vertical alignment, and text direction (rotation). Use the Home Tab on the Ribbon Select the cells, rows, or columnsyou want to edit and go to the Home tab on the ribbon. Use the paragraph options to change horizontal alignment, vertical alignment, text direction (rotation), and orientation (left-to-right or right-to-left). Click the arrow in the lower right corner of the Paragraph group to open the Paragraph window where you can set additional options, such as indentation and line spacing. Use the Mini Toolbar Select text in any table cell to reveal a floating mini toolbar where you can set several font-formatting options, including horizontal alignment. Use the Right-Click Context Menu Select the cells, rows, or columnsyou want to edit, then right-click and choose Format Shape from the context menu that appears. When the Format Shape window appears, select the Text Box tab on the left, then set vertical alignment and text direction (rotation). You can also set internal cell margins on this window. If you select text in a cell and then right-click, you’ll see a shorter context menu with Paragraph and Format Shape options where you can set alignment, indentation, margins, and more. Use Keyboard Shortcuts Quickly change horizontal alignment of text with these keyboard shortcuts: Ctrl+E = center alignment Ctrl+L = left alignment Ctrl+R = right alignment Formatting Text in Table Cells Here are several ways to format table text: Use the Home Tab on the Ribbon Select the cells, rows, or columnsyou want to edit and go to the Home tab on the ribbon. Use the font-formatting options to change the font, size, effects, colors, and spacing. Use the Mini Toolbar Select text in any table cell to reveal a floating mini toolbar where you can set several font-formatting options, including font, size, effects, color, and horizontal alignment. Use the Right-Click Context Menu Select text in any table cell, then right-click and choose Font. Then use the Font window that appears to change the font, style, size, colors, effects, and spacing. Use Keyboard Shortcuts Quickly format text with keyboard shortcuts, such as: Ctrl+B = bold Ctrl+I = italicize Ctrl+U = underline Click here for more font-formatting keyboard shortcuts. Adding Hyperlinks Hyperlinks can be added directly to the table as a whole, not individual cells or selected text. You can simulate hyperlinks for cells and text by adding hotspots where you need them and using the hotspots to trigger hyperlinks. Adjusting Cell Margins To change the internal margins for table cells: Select the cells, rows, or columnsyou want to edit. Right-click and choose Format Shape. Select the Text Box tab on the left side of the window that appears. Enter pixel values for the Left, Right, Top, and Bottom internal cell margins. Click Close to exit the window. Using Scrolling Panels to Scroll Lengthy Tables If you have a table that’s too long to fit on a slide, put it in a scrolling panel so learners can scroll to view the data. (Note: scrolling panels only scroll vertically, not horizontally.) And if you want the header row to always be visible, create a separate table with one row outside (above) the scrolling panel just for the header text. Here’s a published example of a table in a scrolling panel with a frozen header row. And here’s the project file if you want to see how it’s built. Tips for working with lengthy tables: It helps to build and format your table first, then drag and drop it into a scrolling panel. You can also create your table the way you want it in another program, such as Excel, then copy and paste it into Storyline 360. Setting a CustomFocus Order for Table Cells It’s important to set a meaningfulfocus order for learners with screen readers so they hear content in the order that makes the most sense. By default, the focus order for table cells goes from left to right and top to bottom. But you can create your own custom focus order for slide content, including tables. Go to the Home tab on the ribbon and clickFocus Order. View this user guide for details. Tip: You can set thefocus order for the table as a whole and also for each cell in the table, which means you can remove empty cells from thefocus order altogether so screen readers will skip over them. Making Tables Accessible Tables have built-in screen reader support. Learners with visual disabilities can easily explore tables and know exactly where they are. By default, screen readers announce a table by the number of columns and rows it has, and they’ll read the text in each cell as you navigate through the table. However, it’s helpful to give the table and individual cells in the table more descriptive alternative text (alt text) so learners with screen readers have a better understanding of the content. For example, screen readers will announce the following table simply as “Table with 3 columns and 4 rows.” And when learners navigate through the table, screen readers will read the first cell as “Employee,” the second cell as “Department,” and the third cell as “Extension.” However, it would be better if we told screen readers to announce “Table with 3 columns and 4 rows that lists each employee’s name in the first column, the employee’s department in the second column, and the employee’s phone extension in the last column.” And it might be helpful to read the first cell as “Employee name column header,” the second cell as “Department column header,” and the third cell as “Phone extension column header.” (We don’t need to add alt text to the other cells in the table since we want screen readers to read the text we typed into those cells.) To add alt text to tables and cells, Go to the Home tab on the ribbon, click Focus Order, then enter text in the Alternative Text column for each object on the slide. View this user guide for details. Another way to add alt text to the table as a whole is to right-click the table and select Accessibility from the context menu. However, to add alt text to individual cells, you’ll need to use the customfocus order window above.
