August 6, 2025
For the longest time, I’ve found accessibility in elearning to be incredibly frustrating. The WCAG guidelines focus heavily on web accessibility, which makes it tricky to figure out what applies directly to elearning and what doesn’t. My name is Jamie and I’m a part of the team here at Little Man Project, where we spend a lot of time thinking about how we can make elearning more inclusive and accessible. So naturally, I was really excited to see the new Accessibility Checker pop up after updating Storyline.
In case you missed it, back in May, Articulate launched a tool that checks your project’s accessibility for you. Fantastic, right? Well… yes and no.
After using it briefly, it’s clear that while the checker is extremely helpful, it’s not perfect. When you open the Accessibility panel, you’ll notice a small disclaimer at the bottom:
“The accessibility checker is a helpful starting point, but no automated tool can catch everything. For the most accurate results, we recommend combining it with manual testing to ensure your design meets accessibility standards.”
That pretty much sums it up. The checker is great for flagging obvious issues, like missing captions or alt text. If you have subscribed to Articulate’s AI features, you can now generate alt text for all your images in one click. Pretty impressive! It provides a handy checklist of accessibility considerations you might have missed, helping you catch potential problems early, before diving into full testing. It’s a solid starting point.
But here’s the thing, when you start digging into what accessibility really means, you realise that some design choices are just better than others. We can easily overcomplicate navigation or create interactions that are technically accessible but still frustrating to use. Does the Accessibility Checker catch those nuances? Not really. It’ll tell you if something ticks the right boxes, but that doesn’t always mean it’s a good experience.
This is where I start to have concerns. Accessibility (especially in elearning) is complex. The WCAG guidelines weren’t written with elearning in mind. Over the past few years, our own understanding of what makes a course accessible has evolved. And that evolution only happened because we kept asking questions, challenging assumptions, and learning how to interpret the guidelines thoughtfully. If we rely too heavily on tools to do that work for us, those conversations stop. And that’s a problem.
So here’s the key takeaway: this tool doesn’t do accessibility for you. It’s not a one-click solution to all your accessibility challenges.
What it is, is a support, something that can assist you in making your content more inclusive. But for it to be truly effective, you still need to do the work. You need to stay curious, keep learning, and consciously engage with what accessibility really means in your context.
That said, I want to end on a positive note. There are definitely some great things about the Accessibility Checker. It’s a helpful tool for spotting things you might have overlooked, and even better, it gives you context. It doesn’t just tell you what to improve, it also explains why it matters. Used thoughtfully, it can be a really valuable aid in your journey toward designing more accessible elearning.
Want to dive deeper into the Accessibility Checker? Read more about how it works on the Articulate website. The more we use the new Articulate Accessibility Checker, the more tips we’ll have to share. So stay tuned for future blogs with insights on how to get the best from this valuable tool.