Accessibility
Accessibility is central to creating meaningful and inclusive learning experiences. As a Headless partner, you play an essential role in how accessibility principles are put into practice—both in the way you implement Coassemble’s course creation tools within your platform and in how you guide your customers to use them.
Coassemble is working with third-party auditors to confirm our conformance to the standards. True accessibility, however, depends on shared responsibility. By adopting WCAG practices, you and your users can help deliver more inclusive learning experiences today. Together, we can ensure that learners experience content that is both effective and inclusive.
Shared responsibility: Coassemble, you, and your users
Coassemble: Provides the underlying course creation tools, designed with WCAG principles in mind.
You (Headless partner): Your implementation decisions (e.g. navigation, shell UI, theme overrides) directly impact accessibility outcomes.
Your users (course creators): They must apply accessibility best practices when building courses (e.g. adding alt text, maintaining contrast, choosing screen types carefully).
Key accessibility practices for course creators
1. Alternative text for images
Images can be a great way to bring content to life, but for learners who use screen readers, those visuals need to be described in text form. This is where alternative text (alt text) comes in. Alt text provides a written description of an image so that learners who cannot see the image still understand its purpose and meaning. Without alt text, a screen reader will simply skip the image or read out the file name, creating a poor learning experience.
Best practice for your customers
Be clear and concise: Keep alt text under 125 characters so it can be quickly read by screen readers.
Describe the purpose, not just the appearance: Instead of saying “a chart,” write “bar chart showing sales growth over three years.”
Avoid unnecessary phrases: Don’t start with “image of” or “picture of”—screen readers already announce that it’s an image.
Include essential text: If the image contains text that isn’t repeated elsewhere, include it in the alt text.
Do not include alt text for images that serve a purely decorative function; leaving it blank will ensure it is skipped by screen readers.
Test for context: Ask yourself, “If this image were removed, would learners still get the same information?” If not, the missing context belongs in the alt text.
2. High contrast for text & UI
Color and contrast play a critical role in making digital content readable for everyone. Learners with low vision or color blindness may struggle to read text if it doesn’t stand out clearly against its background. High-contrast design ensures that all learners can comfortably read and navigate course content, regardless of their visual ability or device. Even well-designed content can become inaccessible if contrast isn’t considered.
Best practice for your customers
Start with defaults: Coassemble themes are built with sufficient contrast, so encourage customers to use these presets wherever possible.
Check custom colors: If they override default theme colors, they must manually check the contrast between text and background to ensure it follows WCAG guidance.
Use reliable tools: Free resources like WebAIM’s Contrast Checker help confirm compliance quickly.
3. Choosing accessible screen types
Different screen types can create different learning experiences—but they don’t all interact with assistive technologies in the same way. While Coassemble’s standard screens are designed to work with screen readers, some formats may present challenges depending on the learner’s needs or the technology they use. Choosing the right screen type ensures that course content is not only engaging but also accessible to all learners.
Best practice for your customers
All standard Coassemble screen types are compatible with screen readers, so they can be used confidently.
Use caution with Hotspot screens: Hotspots place interactive labels on images, which may not always be interpreted clearly by screen readers. If critical information is contained in a hotspot, ensure it’s also provided in text elsewhere.
Check embedded tools: The Embed screen allows third-party content (e.g. videos, interactive tools) to be included. Since accessibility varies widely across third-party providers, customers must check each tool for compatibility with screen readers and other assistive technologies before embedding.
Provide alternatives where needed: If a particular screen type or embedded tool cannot be made accessible, offer the same information in an alternative format (e.g. a text summary or downloadable file).
4. Ensuring video content has captions
Video content is a powerful way to engage learners, but it also needs to be accessible. Learners may rely on captions to access video-based learning.
How Coassemble supports this:
When you embed videos from platforms like YouTube or Vimeo, you can take advantage of their built-in captioning tools.
Both platforms allow you to upload your own caption files (for the highest accuracy) or use automatically generated captions (which should always be reviewed for errors).
Best practice for your customers
Always enable captions for any instructional video.
If possible, upload a professional caption file rather than relying only on auto-captions.
Keep captions synchronized with the video, and make sure they convey spoken content accurately, including important sounds (e.g. “[applause]” or “[music]”).
Consider also providing transcripts for video and audio content, which can help learners who prefer text-based study or use screen readers.
Important note
Coassemble itself doesn’t generate or manage captions for videos when uploaded directly to our platform. If your users would like to use the Vimeo or YouTube caption capability, they will need to ensure those videos are captioned within the source platform before embedding them into a course.
5. Avoid text inside images
It’s important that text is always provided in a format that assistive technologies can read. If learners rely on screen readers, any text embedded inside an image (for example, screenshots of PowerPoint slides, infographics, or banners with text) will not be detected and therefore cannot be read aloud.
Best practice for your customers
Avoid uploading images that contain large blocks of text.
Instead, place the text directly in the course content where it can be read by assistive technology.
If using an image with essential text (e.g. a chart or labeled diagram), provide that text in the Alt text or as a supporting description alongside the image.
By keeping text separate from images, your customers ensure all learners—regardless of ability—can access the information.
How you can support your customers
Educate them about accessibility best practices.
Highlight where your design decisions (UI, color schemes, navigation) impact accessibility.
Provide resources like WCAG guidelines and accessibility testing tools.
Encourage testing of courses with assistive tech before launch.