Media Controls Guide

Questions answered by this guide

• ?Why is auto-playing audio or video an accessibility problem?
• ?What does WCAG require for auto-playing sound?
• ?How do I turn off autoplay in Storyline?
• ?How do I turn off autoplay in Rise?
• ?Does a looping animation need a pause control too?
• ?Why does A11yCheck flag missing player controls?

What you'll learn

• Auto-playing sound or motion needs a way to pause, stop, or control it
• Audio that plays automatically for more than 3 seconds needs a pause/stop or independent volume control
• This is partly a course-wide player setting and partly a per-slide or per-block check

What's inside

Instructional designers adding audio, video, or animation in Storyline or Rise

1. 01The concept
2. 02A worked example
3. 03How to fix it in Storyline
4. 04How to fix it in Rise
5. 05Looping animations and motion

Why it matters

Auto-playing sound can startle or disorient a learner, and it can talk directly over a screen reader's own speech, one of the more disruptive experiences a screen reader user can have. Without pause, stop, or volume controls, a learner has no way to regain control once it starts. This is WCAG success criterion 1.4.2 (Audio Control, Level A): if audio plays automatically for more than 3 seconds, a mechanism must exist to pause or stop it, or to control its volume independently from the system volume. A related criterion, 2.2.2 (Pause, Stop, Hide, Level A), covers moving or looping content, like a looping animation or pulsing marker, that starts automatically and runs for more than 5 seconds, a learner must be able to pause, stop, or hide that too.

When you'll encounter this

• You add background music or ambient audio to a slide.
• A video or audio block is set to play automatically the moment a slide or lesson loads.
• You use a looping animation or a pulsing marker to draw attention to something.
• A11yCheck flags a player controls issue on a scan report.

Examples

Best practices

• Turn on Storyline's course-wide Playback Speed and accessibility controls in Player Properties once, early, rather than fixing it slide by slide later.
• For any slide with background audio, check its trigger. If it plays automatically with no pause button on screen, add one, or turn off autoplay.
• For embedded video, confirm Play, Pause, and Volume controls are all switched on, some settings are per-video and aren't covered by the course-wide player setting.
• In Rise, prefer the native Video and Audio blocks over a custom Embed block, you get working controls for free. An embedded third-party player needs its own pause and volume controls checked directly in the code.
• For a looping animation or pulsing marker, add a way to pause or stop the loop, or shorten it so it only cycles briefly rather than indefinitely.

Common mistakes

• Background audio or animation set to autoplay with no visible way to pause or stop it.
• Assuming a course-wide player setting automatically covers every embedded video, some controls are per-video and need checking individually.
• Embedding a custom media player that hides or removes standard pause and volume controls.
• A looping animation that runs for more than a few seconds without ever stopping.

Practical checklist

• Nothing plays audio automatically for more than 3 seconds without a pause, stop, or independent volume control.
• Every embedded or native video has visible Play, Pause, and Volume controls.
• Looping animations and pulsing markers can be paused or stopped, or are kept brief.
• In Storyline, course-wide accessibility and playback speed controls are turned on in Player Properties.
• In Rise, autoplay is off by default on Video and Audio blocks, and any Embed block's custom player has been tested for working controls.

Frequently asked questions

Summary

Anything that plays sound or motion on its own needs a way for the learner to pause, stop, or control it. Auto-playing audio longer than 3 seconds needs a pause, stop, or volume control under WCAG 1.4.2, and looping animations longer than 5 seconds need the same under 2.2.2.