September 28, 2020 - October 1st, 2020
(ADA) Add “Tour Stop Gallery” to Tour Stop Gallery Title
Previously, the Tour Stop Gallery had a generic title that sighted users could understand the meaning of. However, this generic title wasn’t itself descriptive, which isn’t accessible. The title of the Tour Stop Gallery in 360 Tours now includes “Tour Stop Gallery” to give both sighted and screen reader users more context of the panel they are in.
Other Updates
Various Bug Fixes
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October 19th, 2020
Updates to Audio and Audio Hotspots
There are multiple sources of audio in 360° Tours. Tour Stops can have an associated audio file, a 360° Video, or multiple Audio Hotspots. Since all of these can exist at the same time on one Tour Stop, Tour Stops now only allow one audio source - the most recently interacted played one - to have audio control.
Additionally, Audio Hotspots have been updated to only play their file once rather than in a continuous loop.
Improvements to Deleting Forms
The new Forms feature in Tour Builder has a convenient delete button to clear all inputted Form information if users want to start from scratch. However, this button wasn’t clearly actionable, so it has now been updated with an icon. Users are also now, as a safeguard, asked to confirm they want to clear their Form data. These two additions further streamline the user experience around Forms.
The new Delete buttons and confirmation prompt for Forms.
Other Updates
Various Bug Fixes
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October 27-28th, 2020
(ADA) More Visible Focus for Firefox
Whether users prefer keyboard accessibility or a screen reader, tabbing through 360° Tour should clearly and visibly show what is currently in focus to users.This focus ring has been re-stylized to be more visible.
An example of the focus ring when accessing a 360° Tour in Firefox via the keyboard.
Other Updates
Various Bug Fixes
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November 4th, 2020
Google Analytics on Number of Tour Stop Views
360° Tours now have Google Analytics on the number of views specific Tour Stops have received. Previously, this information was available but had to be inferred from other multiple actions a user could take like pressing navigation buttons. Now, when a Tour Stop is loaded, a view is tracked for the specific Tour Stop. This will help clients understand better which stops are receiving engagement.
Other Updates
Various Bug Fixes
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December 1st, 2020
(ADA) Information Popup about Keyboard Controls for 360° Tours
360° Tour users have been able to control Panoramas and 360° Videos with their keyboard. However, these controls haven’t been made obvious and clear as they are on Interactive Maps. There’s a new information popup that appears when a user tabs after the top-bar buttons and shows pan and zoom controls.
The new information popup appears when a user tabs through a 360 Tour.
Out-of-World Image and Audio Hotspots for Static Image Tour Stops
Static Images for Tour Stops are fundamentally different from immersive panoramas or 360° Videos. They pose different challenges, especially for Hotspots. How do you display Image or Video Hotspots in-world? What happens if the Hotspot is on the edge of the image and the image is cropped?
In-world Hotspots build an immersive but rather inaccessible experience since there are barriers to access alternative text or audio transcripts. Screen reader users need to be able to understand or control what they’re focused on, and other 360° Tour users and clients may want to access and display content more directly.
Image and Audio Hotspots on Static Images now display out-of-world. This allows more direct access to the content and will likely extend to all Hotspot types as a togglable feature for clients in the future.
The new out-of-world Hotspot viewers for Image and Audio Hotspots.
(ADA) Label for 360° Video Play Button
Some users were confused by what the play button did on 360° Tours with a 360° Video. This was exacerbated by 360° Video Tour Stops with an audio file attached. To clarify the user experience and make it more accessible, the button now displays a label describing its purpose.
The new label for 360° Videos’ play button appears on hover over.