Most Drupal developers know the accessibility basics - semantic HTML, alt text, heading structure. We've got that covered. But then you need to build something interactive: a disclosure widget, custom navigation, a carousel.
So you build it. The design looks great, the JavaScript works beautifully, your client's delighted. Then someone tries to use it with just their keyboard and ends up trapped in an infinite tab loop. Or a screen reader announces "button button button" giving the user no clues to what they are supposed to do next.
These aren't edge cases. They're problems I see constantly - and I've created plenty of them myself. They happen because knowing the basics doesn't prepare you for how assistive technologies actually interact with dynamic content. This session tackles the interactive accessibility challenges you're genuinely facing as a developer, with real code examples showing both the mistakes and what actually works.
Participants should have basic accessibility awareness and be comfortable reading basic HTML and JavaScript code. Familiarity with building Drupal themes or custom modules is helpful but not required. No prior experience with ARIA or screen readers needed - the session will cover what you need to know.
This session goes beyond the basics to look at the interactive components we're actually building - the ones that cause problems. We'll dig into common failures like tab traps, broken focus management, and ARIA that does more harm than good, then work through solutions using real Drupal code.
We'll cover keyboard navigation that doesn't trap people, how to properly implement ARIA for accordions and disclosure widgets, and managing focus when content updates dynamically. All the examples come from real project work - you'll see what went wrong and what we did to fix it.
I'll do live demonstrations of keyboard and screen reader testing so you can see how these issues actually affect users, and how to spot them while you're developing. You'll come away with code patterns and testing approaches you can use straight away in your own projects.
- Understand how keyboard and screen reader users interact with dynamic components
- Identify common accessibility failures in interactive Drupal components (tab traps, focus issues, ARIA misuse)
- Implement proper ARIA patterns and focus management for accordions, disclosure widgets, and dynamic content
- Apply practical testing techniques to catch interactive accessibility issues during development
