Storyline Triggers and Accessibility

Questions answered by this guide

• ?How do Storyline triggers affect accessibility?
• ?Why can't a keyboard user activate my custom hotspot?
• ?Do I need to add a keyboard trigger separately from a mouse trigger?
• ?Why doesn't a screen reader announce content that appears on a layer?

What you'll learn

• A trigger set on Hover or Mouse events has no keyboard equivalent unless you also wire one
• A trigger that shows or hides a layer needs to move focus to the new content, or a screen reader user won't know it appeared
• Storyline's built-in objects (buttons, standard interactions) handle this automatically, custom triggers do not

What's inside

Instructional designers building custom interactions in Storyline with triggers and layers

1. 01Why triggers are where custom accessibility problems start
2. 02Hover and mouse-only triggers
3. 03Layer triggers and focus
4. 04Timeline and animation triggers
5. 05Testing your own triggers

Why it matters

A trigger is an explicit instruction: this exact event does this exact thing. Storyline doesn't infer that a keyboard user should be able to do the same thing a mouse user just did, if the trigger says "Hover," a keyboard-only or screen reader user has no way to fire it at all, because the interaction was never built for them in the first place.

When you'll encounter this

• You've built a custom hotspot, button, or interactive object using a trigger instead of Storyline's standard button object.
• A trigger shows or hides a layer in response to a click, and the layer contains new content or a new interaction.
• A timeline-based animation trigger plays automatically and can't be paused, stopped, or skipped by the learner.
• A11yCheck's scan flags a custom object as unreachable by keyboard.

Example

Best practices

• For any trigger set to Hover or Mouse-related events, add a matching trigger for the equivalent keyboard event (Focus, or a key press) so the same action is reachable both ways.
• When a trigger shows a layer with new content, add a second trigger that sets focus to the new layer's content, otherwise a screen reader user has no signal anything changed.
• Give every custom hotspot or trigger-based object a real accessible name (via the Accessibility panel), Storyline's built-in objects handle this automatically, but a shape or hotspot turned into an interactive element via triggers does not.
• For an auto-playing timeline animation, add a pause/stop control if the animation conveys meaningful content, or set it not to auto-advance if the learner needs time to process it first.
• Test every custom trigger with the mouse unplugged, if you can't fire it by keyboard alone, a keyboard-only learner can't either.

Common mistakes

• Building a custom interactive object entirely with Hover-based triggers and never adding a keyboard equivalent.
• Showing a layer with new content or a new question, and leaving focus wherever it was before the layer appeared.
• Assuming a shape or hotspot is accessible because it's clickable, being clickable and being reachable by keyboard are unrelated in Storyline's trigger system.

Practical checklist

• Every Hover-based trigger has a matching Focus-based (or equivalent keyboard) trigger.
• Every trigger that shows a layer also moves focus into that layer's content.
• Every custom hotspot or trigger-driven object has a real accessible name set.
• Auto-playing timeline animations that carry meaning have a pause or skip option.
• Every custom trigger was tested by tabbing through the slide with the mouse unplugged.

Frequently asked questions

Summary

Storyline's trigger system requires an explicit trigger per event, it doesn't infer a keyboard equivalent for a mouse-only one. Custom interactions need matching keyboard triggers, deliberate focus movement when layers appear, and real accessible names, none of which happen automatically the way they do on Storyline's built-in objects.