How to Fix Keyboard Navigation in Rise 360

Overview

Rise's own blocks, Button, Text, Labeled Graphic, Knowledge Check, are keyboard accessible by default, that's one of the advantages of building in Rise rather than a fully custom tool. Keyboard problems almost always come from two places instead: an Embed block containing custom HTML, JavaScript, or an iframe that Rise has no control over, or an interactive block like Sorting Activity or Flashcards where the natural interaction feels like a drag or a swipe.

Step-by-step instructions

1. 1

   Put your mouse away.

2. 2

   Press Tab repeatedly through the lesson, starting from the top of the block you're checking.

3. 3

   For an Embed block: if Tab skips over a button, link, or control inside the embedded content, that has to be fixed in the source HTML or widget itself, not in Rise's settings.

4. 4

   For a Sorting Activity, Flashcards, or similar drag-based block: confirm there's a working keyboard alternative, arrow keys or Enter/Space to pick up and place an item, not just mouse dragging.

5. 5

   For any control you can reach with Tab, also press Enter or Space to confirm it actually activates, being reachable and being usable are two different checks.

6. 6

   If an embedded widget simply has no keyboard support at all, consider replacing it with a native Rise block that does the same job.

Screenshots

Tips

• Test keyboard access on any Embed block the moment you add it, it's much easier to catch there than after the whole course is built.
• Native Rise interactive blocks (Process, Timeline, Labeled Graphic, Knowledge Check) already support keyboard use out of the box, if one of these fails a keyboard check, double-check you're testing the published lesson, not a preview.
• Ask the source of any third-party embed whether it's keyboard accessible before you build a lesson around it.

Common mistakes

• Embedding custom HTML or a third-party widget that was never built with keyboard support.
• Drag-and-drop interactive blocks with no keyboard equivalent for picking up and placing an item.
• Testing an embed only with a mouse and never confirming Tab actually reaches its controls.

Why it matters

Learners who can't use a mouse rely entirely on the keyboard. Anything that only responds to a click or a drag is completely unusable to them.