Though Adobe documentation certifies compatibility using JAWS and Fire Fox, it is not practical, or financially feasible in many cases, to expect screen reader users to switch their standard browser / screen reader combinations in accordance with each application they need. NVDA with FF is among the top screen reader and browser combinations used by persons with visual disabilities, running head-to-head with JAWS https://webaim.org/projects/screenreadersurvey7/. These are just two of the accessibility issues reported by the AUL. They just happen to be the most significant and important.
Recently the University of Colorado Boulder’s Accessibility and Usability Lab (AUL) identified several issues with our online courses created using Adobe Captivate 2019 (11.0.1.266). Though the Instructional Designer (ID), using accessibility best practices with Captivate, can address many of the issues, two significant issues however, were identified that appear to be inherent in Captivate 2019 but were not seen in Captivate 2017 (10.0.1.285) projects. (View a 10 minute YouTube demonstration of the issues)
First Issue: “graphic” repetition
First, when previewing or publishing Captivate 2019 projects as HTML5 using the NVDA or JAWS screen-readers, the word “graphic” continually announces each text or image content layer and/or every 125 characters of the layer.
Not only is this very annoying to screen-reader users it can also lead to misunderstanding the lesson context. During my testing, this occurs in both the JAWS and NVDA screen-readers in IE, FF, and Chrome. When previewing or publishing in CP 2017 as HTML5 the screen content reads as expected.
Second Issue: Repetition of Text Surrounding Links
The second significant issue revolves around the linking feature of captivate when using the Modify Hyperlink Dialog to apply a link to a URL, file, advanced action or other feature. (I’ve only tested URL, and Advanced Actions but the issue was present in both cases)
Captivate 2019
- With NVDA and FF the link is announced only at the very end, and more importantly, after the associated text block(s) are repeated multiple times (at least 5 or more times depending on the text and how many links are on the page: the more links, the more times the text blocks are randomly repeated.)
I’ve only identified one practical work-around thus far: break the text apart and define each link as a button with the accessibility name defined as “web link”, for instance. Even then, careful attention must be applied to the layer stacking order.
- NVDA and IE11 or NVDA and Chrome do not report the link at all and do not appear in the accessibility tree (Insert plus F7)
- U key works for unvisited link, if at the top of the page. If past the link then user can use Shift + U presuming they know a link exists.
- V key (visited link) does not work in any browser / screen reader combination.
Hello – Is this still happening? We are discussing upgrading to 2019 but have to create Captivate projects that are accessible. Our users access JAW screen readers also.
Thanks, Dianne
I to have been having issues with JAWS and Captivate. Not only do I still get “graphic” every so often. I can’t figure out how to get jaws to read within the slide – if that is at all possible. It does read the notes.
Also it seems to have to go down the whole menu to be able to get to the screen menu bar. Does anyone know any way to avoid this. This seems to not be in compliance.
Thanks for any help.
I just went through this again, and the bug IS NOT FIXED. I’m actually getting the “graphic” repeated when using the keys only. If I happen to use my mouse I do not get the word “graphic” repeated. Obviously, this must work without a mouse.
Good morning – b.rembrandt
Is this issue still happening? We are in the process of moving to Captivate 2019 and need to use JAWS.
Thanks!
Did you test this on the most recent update, 11.5 as well?
The “graphic repetition” issue is fixed in the 11.5 update.
Thanks for confirmation that this bug was fixed.
We currently use Captivate 2019 v 11.0.5.476 and are still hearing the word ‘graphic’ every instance where we are using smart shapes as containers for text so it can be read by JAWS or NVDA .
Is anyone else still having this issue? We are using IE and Chrome. Most recent versions.
Hi David! Your video was so helpful. I was testing a course I’m updating with Jaws and could NOT figure out what was going on! Were you able to find out any solutions to the issue? I’m finalizing a module and am doing my accessibility review for what I need to clean up and add manually. Curious how you’re addressing the issues!
Thank you for this information. My organization is in the process of upgrading from 2017 to 2019, so this is good information to have.
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