Accessibility and Nimble

We are keen to provide the best possible experience for learners with disabilities using elearning courses created with Nimble Author. This article provides an overview of the steps that we have taken, and are taking, to support this.

Physical accessibility

In this section, we'll look at physical accessibility for courses built using Nimble Author.

Touchscreen devices

For users requiring the use of a touchscreen, courses built using Nimble Author can be used with most touchscreen devices including modern mobile phones and tablets.

Keyboard navigation

We are working to add keyboard navigation for courses built with Nimble Author. This article will be updated once keyboard navigation is supported.

Visual accessibility

In this section, we'll look at visual accessibility for courses built using Nimble Author.

Audio transcripts

When an audio clip is uploaded to Nimble Author, you can specify a transcript for the audio. For example, when uploading an audio clip of a person saying, "Welcome to the course", you should also add a transcript that says, "Welcome to the course". This helps you to support learners with hearing difficulties.

Video captions/subtitles

We are working to implement captions/subtitles for videos uploaded directly to Nimble Author. In the meantime:

• When rendering videos (using third-party software) that you wish to upload directly to Nimble Author, you can hard-encode captions/subtitles into the video so that they are automatically displayed when the video is played. This has the added benefit of addressing a range of different learning styles at the same time.
• Nimble Author allows you to embed videos from YouTube and Vimeo. Both of these services allow you to add captions/subtitles to your videos, which can be turned on and off as the learner prefers.

Text size

Courses built using Nimble Author are fully responsive. This means that they automatically adjust to the size of the screen that they are being viewed on. Because of this, learners can use their web browser's built-in zoom functionality to increase and decrease the size of text as required.

Auditory accessibility

In this section, we'll look at auditory accessibility for courses built using Nimble Author

Alt text

When an image is uploaded to Nimble Author, you can specify alt (alternate) text for the image. For example, when uploading an image of a person checking their watch, you might choose to specify alt text that says, "A picture of a person checking their watch".

Screen readers

We are working to improve screen reader performance for courses built using Nimble Author.

Your learners may already find that their chosen screen reader is able to read page text when it is moused over or selected. The best way to confirm performance with your learners' chosen screen reader is to try working through a course using the screen reader. There are improvements that we wish to make before we advise of compatibility with specific screen reading tools.

This article will be updated to include advice for different screen readers once support for them has been improved.