Overview

Understand.com provides patient education animations through a web-based video player that can be embedded into healthcare websites.

The player is designed to support accessible patient education experiences for medical practices, hospitals, health systems, and healthcare organizations that want to make procedure and condition education easier for more patients to use and understand.

Understand.com targets WCAG 2.2 Level AA for its video player experience. The player is designed with support for keyboard navigation, screen readers, captions, transcripts, chapter navigation, focus management, and embedded website use cases.

What This Page Covers

This page explains how Understand.com’s animation player supports accessibility and website integration.

It is intended for:

• Healthcare practices
• Hospitals and health systems
• Medical website developers
• Healthcare marketing teams
• Compliance and accessibility teams
• Patient education coordinators
• Digital agencies working with medical practices
• Organizations evaluating patient education video libraries

Accessibility Approach

Understand.com’s accessibility work focuses on the patient education video player experience.

Because Understand.com animations are commonly embedded into healthcare websites, the player is designed to provide accessible controls, labels, states, captions, transcripts, and keyboard behavior within the embedded experience.

Understand.com’s goal is to make its video player usable by people with a wide range of abilities, devices, and assistive technologies.

WCAG 2.2 AA Target

Understand.com targets WCAG 2.2 Level AA for its video player experience.

WCAG, or Web Content Accessibility Guidelines, is a widely used accessibility standard for websites and digital interfaces. Level AA is a common accessibility target for organizations that want to provide a more inclusive digital experience.

For healthcare organizations, accessible patient education is especially important because patients may have different visual, auditory, physical, cognitive, or technological needs when learning about medical conditions and procedures.

Keyboard Accessibility

Understand.com’s video player is designed so core player actions can be reached and operated by keyboard.

Users can tab through player controls and activate buttons using common keyboard interactions such as Enter or Space.

The player also supports keyboard shortcuts for common playback actions, including:

• M to toggle mute or unmute
• F to toggle fullscreen
• C to toggle captions
• Number keys 1–9 to jump to animation chapters

Keyboard accessibility helps users who cannot use a mouse, prefer keyboard navigation, or rely on assistive technology.

Screen Reader Support

The player includes screen reader support for key interactive controls.

Icon-only controls use descriptive accessible names so screen reader users can understand what each control does. Examples may include controls such as:

• Like video
• Share video
• View transcript
• Mute video
• Enter fullscreen

Where controls have selected, expanded, or active states, ARIA attributes are used to communicate those states to assistive technologies.

This helps make the player more understandable for users who rely on screen readers or other assistive technology.

Captions

Captions are available for Understand.com animations.

The player includes a captions control so users can turn captions on or off. Captions help users who are deaf or hard of hearing, users watching without audio, and users who benefit from reading along while listening.

Captions are also useful in healthcare settings where patients may be watching videos in waiting rooms, exam rooms, shared spaces, or other environments where audio is not ideal.

Transcripts

Transcripts are available for Understand.com animations.

Users can access a transcript view through an accessible player control. Transcripts give patients and website visitors another way to review the educational content in text form.

Transcripts can be helpful for users who prefer reading, users with hearing-related needs, users who want to search or scan information, and users who want to revisit specific details after watching an animation.

Chapter Navigation

Understand.com animations include chapter navigation.

Video chapters are exposed as keyboard-accessible controls. Users can tab to chapter markers and activate them to jump to the corresponding point in the animation.

Chapter navigation helps patients move through longer animations more easily and revisit specific parts of the educational content.

For medical topics, chapter navigation can be especially useful because patients may want to review one specific section, such as anatomy, diagnosis, procedure steps, risks, recovery concepts, or treatment options.

Focus Management

Understand.com designs interactive overlays, dialogs, and controls to avoid trapping users unexpectedly or exposing hidden controls in the keyboard tab order.

Good focus management helps keyboard and screen reader users understand where they are in the interface and how to move through the player.

This is especially important for embedded video players because the player exists inside another website and needs to behave predictably within that larger page.

Visible Focus Indicators

Keyboard-focusable controls include visible focus styling.

Visible focus indicators help users understand which control is currently active as they move through the player with a keyboard or assistive technology.

This supports users who navigate without a mouse and helps make the player easier to operate.

Pointer and Touch Support

Understand.com’s player controls are designed to work across desktop and mobile devices.

Touch and pointer interactions are reviewed alongside keyboard behavior so users can interact with the player on different devices, including phones, tablets, laptops, and desktop computers.

Embedded Website Use Cases

Understand.com animations are commonly embedded into medical practice websites, hospital websites, and healthcare education pages.

Because of that, accessibility work focuses on the embedded video player itself, including:

• Player controls
• Button labels
• Control states
• Captions
• Transcript access
• Chapter navigation
• Keyboard behavior
• Focus behavior
• Screen reader output
• Desktop and mobile usability

The accessibility of the full website also depends on the surrounding page, theme, layout, content, and implementation choices made by the website owner or developer.

Understand.com’s player can support an accessible patient education experience, but it does not automatically make an entire website accessible by itself.

Website Integration

Understand.com animations can be embedded into healthcare websites so patients can watch condition and procedure education directly on relevant pages.

Common website placements include:

• Procedure pages
• Condition pages
• Patient education centers
• Service-line pages
• Physician profile pages
• Blog posts and resource pages
• Pre-consultation education pages
• Hospital department pages
• Practice marketing pages

Embedding patient education animations on relevant pages can help patients better understand the medical topics they are already researching.

Best Practices for Developers

Healthcare website developers can help preserve accessibility by placing Understand.com animations in pages that are clean, semantic, and easy to navigate.

Recommended implementation practices include:

• Place animations near relevant written content
• Use clear headings before and after the embedded player
• Avoid placing the player inside inaccessible tabs, accordions, or modals
• Make sure the surrounding page has a logical heading structure
• Avoid hiding the player behind interactions that keyboard users cannot reach
• Ensure the page itself has sufficient color contrast
• Ensure the page works on mobile devices
• Avoid duplicate or confusing page controls near the embedded player
• Provide meaningful page titles and descriptions
• Test the page with keyboard navigation after embedding the player

The player is one part of the overall page experience. A strong implementation should make both the embedded animation and the surrounding page easy for patients to use.

Best Practices for Healthcare Organizations

Healthcare organizations can use Understand.com animations as part of a broader accessible patient education strategy.

Recommended content practices include:

• Pair animations with clear written explanations
• Use plain-language descriptions near the video
• Place videos on the most relevant condition or procedure pages
• Include calls to action that are easy to understand
• Avoid using animation as the only source of important information
• Keep medical claims accurate and appropriate
• Make sure contact forms and appointment flows are also accessible
• Review patient education pages regularly for accuracy and usability

Accessible patient education works best when video, written content, page structure, and website navigation all support the patient.

Patient Education and Accessibility

Medical topics can be difficult for patients to understand. Many patients are researching unfamiliar conditions, procedures, symptoms, or treatment options while also feeling anxious or overwhelmed.

Accessible animation can help by giving patients multiple ways to learn:

• Watching visual explanations
• Listening to narration
• Reading captions
• Reviewing transcripts
• Navigating by chapter
• Using keyboard controls
• Using screen readers and assistive technology

This flexibility can help more patients access the information in the way that works best for them.

Common Questions