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Re: accessible authoring tool for online tutorials

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From: Langum, Michael J
Date: Jun 30, 2010 8:57AM


Deborah,

You might try contacting Jon Gunderson ( <EMAIL REMOVED> ) at the University of Illinois. He has a group dedicated to making content at U. of I. accessible. They have reviewed a number of products.

-- Mike Langum
Asst. Webmaster, WWW.OPM.GOV
U.S. Office of Personnel Management


-----Original Message-----
From: <EMAIL REMOVED> [mailto: <EMAIL REMOVED> ] On Behalf Of <EMAIL REMOVED>
Sent: Tuesday, June 29, 2010 2:49 PM
To: WebAIM Discussion List
Subject: [WebAIM] accessible authoring tool for online tutorials


Good afternoon, brilliant accessibility hive mind. My coworkers in an academic environment are looking for an authoring tool which will help administrative staff in the University produced interactive tutorials. It needs to be an accessible tool, and it needs to produce accessible tutorials. Currently, content is all text-based multiple choice questions, with different feedback for each answer. They want an authoring tool that doesn't require any particular technical skills besides basic computer use.

The tools they've looked at so far all produce Flash, which seems kind of overkill to me, but hey, if it's accessible Flash, at least.

The department has defined accessibility as "the need for people to be able to complete the tutorial via a screen reader, keystrokes, or voice-activation software as a baseline level of functionality."

They looked at Articulate, but apparently Articulate could not meet that basic level of accessibility. Now they are looking at Adobe Presenter, which at least on paper seems to meet the basic requirements. I worry, of course, because Flash needs to have effort put into it in order to be accessible, and if Presenter doesn't do those accessibility steps automatically I'm not sure how much the tutorial-creating staff will remember to go the extra step.

Do all y'all have any opinions about any other tools which might meet this need? Or, for that matter, about Adobe Presenter. I assume Andrew has opinions about Presenter. :-)

Thank you so much,

-deborah