Modern JavaScript applications often pass automated accessibility checks with flying colors. Tools like Lighthouse, Axe, and CI pipelines give us green reports, and we feel confident shipping.

But what happens when real users interact with the application?
In this talk, we’ll explore why automated accessibility testing only catches a fraction of real issues. Through a live demo of a seemingly “accessible” JavaScript form (we will see on the Lighthouse and Axe DevTool no accessibility issues), we’ll uncover hidden problems that automated tools completely miss, such as broken keyboard navigation, silent dynamic UI updates, and modal dialogs that behave correctly visually but fail real users.

You’ll learn why accessibility is not just about passing automated checks, but about understanding how people actually interact with your JavaScript applications.

This session will include a live demo, practical examples, and concrete takeaways developers can apply immediately.

Accessibility (a11y) tends to be a little confusing and mysterious when it comes to the web. In this talk, Mike will demonstrate how you can use Svelte to easily implement a11y practices like roving tabindex and focus traps.

Much like the promise of cake in Portal, login forms are everywhere in web development. While they may seem functional at first glance, many users with disabilities encounter a maze of invisible walls, from keyboard traps to inaccessible CAPTCHAs. It's as if GLaDOS designed these forms herself to test us!

In this session, we will debug the accessibility issues of a real React login component live, similar to traversing those test chambers: Using an actual screen reader, we'll show how small improvements, such as proper ARIA implementation and effective focus management, can transform a complex test chamber into a smooth user experience. Additionally, we will address the common pitfalls that GLaDOS might throw at us in both the Portal universe and the real world. Last but not least, we'll discover authentication features, which will help us keep authentication accessible for everyone.