We are welcoming Helen Brockelbank with the talk: "Under one canvas: building a more inclusive browser game" at FFConf 2026.

We wanted to also thank Helen for taking the time to answer our questions so we can all get to know Helen a little bit more before Friday 13th November.

About Helen and the talk

• Title: Under one canvas: building a more inclusive browser game
• About the talk: The HTML canvas element gives us creative freedom, but it leaves many people behind. Keyboard users, voice control users and others can miss out entirely. Can we build a browser game in canvas without leaving those players behind?
• Helen's origin story: An artsy kid who discovered Notepad and a browser were cheaper than a new set of acrylics or a sketchbook.

The warm up questions

What was the first thing you made with Notepad and a browser?

When I was about 12 I put together a vehicle for publishing my youthful attempts at creative writing. I wrote a story through a series of blog posts about a fruit bat going to university in the UK, and struggling to adjust to student life as a foreigner (and bat). I will not be sharing a link to this.

I could have posted this on one of the fledgling blog platforms at the time, but I thought it would be much more fun to learn to do it myself!

Do the acrylics and sketchbook still get a look in?

They haven't for a long time. A lot of my creative hobbies have been sidelined because of various Adult Responsibilities, but I'm trying to be more intentional about making time for them. I recently managed to locate my sketchbook, and I did just invest in a new set of acrylics...

About the work and the talk

What first got you looking at canvas through an accessibility lens?

I had a contract as an accessibility specialist for the BBC, which meant I had to quickly get to grips with a lot more technologies and thinking about accessibility for a much wider variety of experiences. The BBC is a media organisation so it produces content in a range of formats, and its digital estate ranges from web through native apps to smart TVs and beyond.

While I was working on projects with the BBC Bitesize and CBeebies teams, I learned how they approach building more inclusive games for children. They have hundreds of browser games on their website, and a requirement as a public service broadcaster to serve all audiences in the UK, including those with disabilities.

I saw the techniques they were using, and a while after my contract ended I wondered if there was a way to build on what I had learned and take it further. I started prototyping and that's how this talk was born.

What from your art background shows up in how you build for the web?

In my development work I have always had a strong attention to visual detail and a close collaborative working relationship with designers, but in recent years my work has been more accessibility focused.

There was a point in my career when I realised my colleagues and I were making things that people couldn't use, and I've set about trying to correct those mistakes and help prevent others from making them.

It can still be a creative process: I often spend time looking at a design or product idea, stripping it to its core and working out how we can present the important information in a different and meaningful way.

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Find out more about Helen online at LinkedIn.

Join us in November to see Helen's talk: 2026.ffconf.org