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Building Accessible Sites With Gatsby

Marcy Sutton
Your instructor
Marcy Sutton
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Workshop includes:

  • Snacks and drinks
  • Tea and Coffee
  • Lunch
  • Paper and pen/pencil

Full-day workshop • Monday, October 14
In this workshop you’ll learn how to build accessible, fast sites with the Gatsby website framework, while paying proper attention to HTML and CSS. You’ll learn the ins and outs of creating accessible Gatsby sites, from server-side rendering and progressive enhancement to integration and unit testing of components and pages.

One common requirement for web applications that’s frequently forgotten or left behind is accessibility. There’s often a misconception that accessible sites are boring and old school, and even a myth that screen readers don’t support JavaScript. But in fact, we can produce innovative and accessible websites and applications that support a range of users with disabilities.

In this workshop, you’ll learn

  • How to remove barriers to access that might prevent people with disabilities from using your applications.
  • The necessary tools and techniques for building accessible websites and applications with Gatsby.js.
  • Incorporating accessibility at the component level, making sure our UIs are properly unit tested.
  • Page-level accessibility requirements for modern web applications, along with the relevant integration test coverage.
  • To support users who turn JavaScript off (there are valid reasons), we’ll also take a close look at Gatsby’s server-side rendering and techniques for progressive enhancement.

What prerequisites skills do you need?

Prerequisites include HTML, CSS and JavaScript basics, and some experience with git.

What hardware/software do you need?

Bring a Mac or Windows computer with a text editor, Node, and git installed. If you have a web project you’d like to convert to Gatsby or an existing site to make more accessible, bring it! Otherwise, you can start something from scratch.

About Marcy Sutton

Marcy Sutton is the Head of Learning at Gatsby, a startup creating fast, accessible websites and web-apps while building a strong community. 💜

Previously, she was a Developer Advocate and Senior Frontend Engineer on the axe-core team at Deque Systems, developing tools for web accessibility testing.

Time & Location

This full-day workshop will be hosted at the Microsoft Technology Center and will take place the day before SmashingConf. The workshop will be running from 9:30 AM to 5:30 PM on Monday, October 14.

Schedule for Monday, October 14

9:00 AM – Doors open, Registration
9:30 AM – Introduction & Kick-off
11:00 AM – Coffee Break
1:00 PM – Lunch
2:00 PM – Afternoon Session
3:30 PM – Coffee Break
5:30 PM – The End

Save 100 USD when signing up for the conference and a workshop!