Nerdery

The Project

Working alongside Joel and the Rise Interactive team, I helped build Nerdery’s website—a project that required balancing impressive animations with strict accessibility requirements.

Animation System

I created a reusable GSAP helper tool that allowed the team to:

• Define animations declaratively in the CMS
• Control animation timing and easing
• Set scroll trigger points
• Preview animations before publishing

This empowered content editors to add engaging animations without writing code.

Accessibility Meets Animation

The challenge: make the site visually impressive while remaining fully accessible. My approach:

Keyboard Navigation

• Every interactive element is keyboard-accessible
• Visible focus states that match the design
• Skip links for efficient navigation
• Proper tab order throughout

Respecting User Preferences

• Animations respect prefers-reduced-motion
• Essential information is never hidden behind animations
• All content is accessible with JavaScript disabled

Screen Reader Optimization

• ARIA labels where needed
• Proper heading hierarchy
• Descriptive link text
• Live regions for dynamic content

Collaboration

This project exemplified effective team collaboration:

• Daily standups to align on progress
• Code reviews to maintain quality
• Shared component library
• Documentation for handoff

Technical Stack

• WordPress with ACF Pro
• Custom GSAP animation framework
• Modern CSS with custom properties
• Accessible-first development approach

The result was a website that looked great, performed well, and was usable by everyone.