Steve is a human-centred front-end developer and user experience designer. He helps software teams have happier customers by making more user-friendly and engaging software. He’s been building things for the web professionally since 2005 (and built things for fun for a while before that). Accessibility has been a part of his work for many years, but now it’s part of his job title too! He makes sites and apps that everyone can use, regardless of their device, the network they’re on, or any disabilities they may have.
Some of the tech around us tends heavily towards convenience: reducing friction, reducing effort. But not all discomfort is bad. Some resistance and effort makes us stronger and more alive. Working out at the gym. Learning an instrument. Making new friends.
We'll go
through a few ways that friction can be good for us, the people around us, and the things we make. We'll also talk about how sometimes the friction isn't eliminated, it's just passed on to someone else, somewhere else.
Video game difficulty is a bit like web accessibility. Elden Ring lets players customise difficulty using choice, freedom, and flexibility. We'll borrow some of its tricks to help us make our sites and apps more easy to use for everyone, including disabled people.
Hullo, adventurer! All of us who work with UI can probably do with levelling up a little in Accessibility. We'll apply Strength, Dexterity, Constitution, Intelligence, Wisdom, and Charisma to the front-end and check out what skills support each stat.
Please note: no existing knowledge of dungeons, dragons, or the combination of the two, is required for this talk.
