No Pattern? No Problem: Solving Accessibility Challenges at the Edge of WCAG

Matt Litzinger

WCAG covers a lot, but not everything. Complex WordPress UI components regularly push beyond what the guidelines explicitly address, and most developers freeze when they can’t find a clear answer. This talk presents a practical, repeatable framework for solving accessibility problems when no established pattern exists, anchored in a real case study: making pan and zoom controls on a ticketing seating map work at 200% browser zoom. The solution was designed, tested with real users, and shipped to production. You’ll leave with a method for moving from stuck to shipped on your own hard problems, without waiting for someone else to write the pattern first.

Learning outcomes:

  • Apply a step-by-step framework for tackling accessibility problems without established patterns
  • Use first principles reasoning to evaluate and prototype solutions for novel UI components
  • Validate unconventional accessibility solutions through structured user testing

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