# Homer Gaines

> Director of Engineering, Accessibility at Coforma. Certified Accessibility Professional (CPACC), UI engineer, designer, O'Reilly author, and musician with 30+ years of experience building accessible web products.

Homer Gaines is a frontend engineer and accessibility specialist focused on advancing accessibility across every stage of the product development lifecycle. His background combines behavioral psychology and neurology (B.S., Indiana University East) with three decades of design and engineering practice. He leads, mentors, and contributes individually to design systems, accessibility audits, conformance reporting (VPAT, ACR), and inclusive UX.

He authored the O'Reilly course *Accessibility Unlocked* and maintains *Right Bad Code*, an accessibility-focused blog covering WCAG, semantic HTML, inclusive UX, and digital ableism. Recent roles include Director of Engineering, Accessibility at Coforma and Staff UI Engineer & Design System Lead at Guru Technologies.

Outside of accessibility work, Homer produces music composes cinematic ambient scores for independent films.

## Profile

- [Homer Gaines — homergaines.com](https://www.homergaines.com/): Personal site with full bio, experience, side projects, talks, and discography.
- [LinkedIn](https://www.linkedin.com/in/homergaines): Professional history and recommendations.
- [Sessionize](https://sessionize.com/homergaines): Conference talks and speaking engagements.
- [Bluesky](https://bsky.app/profile/xirclebox.com): Personal posts.

## Publications and teaching

- [Accessibility Unlocked (O'Reilly)](https://www.oreilly.com/videos/accessibility-unlocked-learn/0642572080143/): On-demand training course covering the basics of web accessibility and how to apply WCAG guidelines across roles and skill levels.
- [Right Bad Code](https://www.rightbadcode.com/): Accessibility-focused blog covering WCAG compliance, semantic HTML, inclusive UX, and digital ableism.

## Projects

- [Colorblind.fyi](https://www.colorblind.fyi/): Research-based companion site providing information about color blindness and low vision.
- [Color Blind & Low Vision Simulator (Chrome extension)](https://chromewebstore.google.com/detail/lgflijofdempkdlaknbfmacfidjjhjbb): Browser extension that simulates color blindness and low vision conditions, with support for stacked filters and cross-browser (Chrome and Firefox) compatibility.
- [Hypeddit — "Tried too Hard For You"](https://hypeddit.com/bk8jqr): New music single that released on 05/18/2026 on all streaming platforms.
- [International VPAT®](https://www.itic.org/policy/accessibility/vpat): Reference template used in accessibility conformance reports.

## Areas of expertise

- Accessibility: WCAG 2.0–2.2, Section 508, AODA, EU Accessibility Act (EAA), VPAT®/ACR authoring, accessibility audits and remediation
- Frontend: Semantic HTML, CSS, Sass, BEM, JavaScript, TypeScript, React, Storybook, custom design systems
- UX: User experience design, user interface design, accessible UX (AUX)
- Background: Behavioral psychology, neurology, neurodiversity, leadership and mentorship

## Music

- [Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/artist/0RYjAcmLjU9inmnOyE66aw): Artist profile.
- [Apple Music](https://music.apple.com/us/artist/homer-gaines/1224850938): Artist profile.
- [YouTube Music](https://music.youtube.com/channel/UC6q3s2LMS9YmUXrnL4vz7cg): Artist channel.
- [Amazon Music](https://www.amazon.com/s?k=Homer+Gaines&i=digital-music): Artist catalog.
- [IMDb](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm8372950/): Film scoring credits.