Electronic Accessibility
Toggling Screen Reader Modes
Last updated: 5/26/2025
Certain screen readers have different modes that dictate whether keypress commands activate the screen reader controls or activate controls within the application being read and engaged with through the screen reader. For example, if you're an NVDA user working in a text editing application, while in one screen reader mode, pressing the H key may activate the screen reader controls and jump you to the next heading, while in the other screen reader mode, pressing the H key will activate the text editing application's controls and cause an 'h' to be typed.
Screen reader users can toggle between these modes using certain commands, and increasingly, some applications and events may automatically toggle a screen reader between these modes. For example, if you're using a screen reader and navigate into a text entry form field, your screen reader may automatically be toggled into the mode that allows you to type into the form field.
Why does this matter for eCourses?
It would be inconvenient, if not frustrating, for screen reader users if they had to toggle their screen reader mode each time they wanted to use a keyboard shortcut within an eCourse; this would also be somewhat contrary to the entire spirit of keyboard shortcuts, which is to allow users to execute certain actions as quickly and easily as possible.
This is why Storyline uses Ctrl + Alt ... in its built-in keyboard shortcuts. That keypress combination is not utilized by most screen readers, so it bypasses the need to toggle between screen reader modes and instead can be used regardless of which screen reader mode one is in.
For this reason, and for the sake of consistency, it's recommended that if you add custom keyboard shortcuts to a Storyline eCourse, you also use Ctrl + Alt ... in their keypress combinations.
If, for some reason, screen reader users do have to toggle screen reader modes to use keyboard shortcuts or engage with an eCourse in other ways, you should inform screen reader users of this through the eCourse's instructions, including the instructions they can access before entering the eCourse.