Teaching and Using WordPress With Low Vision: Lessons From Bud Kraus at WordCamp US 2025

At WordCamp US 2025, educator and WordPress professional Bud Kraus spoke candidly about working with low vision caused by macular degeneration. His perspective is practical, solution-focused, and highly relevant to anyone building websites, training users, or publishing content in WordPress.

This post distills the key ideas from his conversation with Nathan Wrigley: the day-to-day adaptations that make WordPress usable, the accessibility gaps that still slow people down, and how modern tools—including AI—can extend careers and independence.

Key Takeaways

• Low vision is not the same as blindness; design and tooling decisions often fail because they assume one “accessible” mode fits everyone.
• Small WordPress and UI choices—contrast, focus states, scalable layouts, readable typography—directly affect speed, accuracy, and confidence.
• Teaching and documentation improve when created with accessibility in mind: clear structure, consistent terminology, and multiple ways to complete tasks.
• AI and assistive technology can be a “career extender,” helping with reading, drafting, and navigating complex interfaces.

Understanding Low Vision in a WordPress Context

Bud Kraus lives and works with macular degeneration, a condition that impacts central vision—the part most people rely on for reading, focusing on small UI elements, and recognizing details. This makes many standard workflows in WordPress and on the web more demanding, even when someone can still see well enough to navigate a room or recognize large objects.

For business owners and developers, this matters because many accessibility conversations default to screen readers and keyboard-only usage. Those are critical, but low vision introduces a different set of needs: magnification, high contrast, predictable layouts, and interfaces that remain usable when zoomed.

Why “It Looks Fine to Me” Is a Risk

A WordPress dashboard that looks clean at 100% zoom can become confusing at 200–400% zoom if elements overlap, sidebars collapse unpredictably, or essential controls move off-screen. Likewise, pale gray text, subtle borders, and low-contrast buttons can make a simple task—like finding “Update”—slow and error-prone.

Bud’s experience highlights a practical point: accessibility is not only about meeting a standard. It’s about ensuring people can complete work efficiently without constant friction.

How Bud Adapts: Practical Strategies for Using WordPress With Low Vision

Bud described a working reality familiar to many professionals with low vision: you can absolutely use a computer and publish content, but you often need a tailored setup. The goal is not “special treatment.” It’s an environment where the same tasks are possible with reasonable effort.

Magnification, Contrast, and Interface Scaling

One of the most effective adaptations is controlled magnification. Increasing zoom and scaling lets users read text and identify interface controls, but it can also expose weaknesses in responsive design—especially in admin panels that weren’t built with high zoom as a first-class requirement.

Contrast is equally important. When an interface relies on thin fonts, light grays, and subtle shadows, it forces users to “hunt” for boundaries and labels. A strong contrast strategy—dark text on light backgrounds (or vice versa), clearly defined input borders, and visible hover/focus states—reduces fatigue and mistakes.

Keyboard Support and Predictable Focus

Even when someone is not a full-time keyboard user, reliable keyboard navigation can be a lifeline. If tab order is inconsistent or focus outlines are removed, a low-vision user can lose track of where they are on the page. In WordPress, this shows up in plugin settings screens, custom metaboxes, and theme options that weren’t built with accessible patterns.

Working Smarter With Content Creation

Bud also emphasized teaching and producing content in a way that accommodates low vision. That often means keeping workflows consistent: using headings correctly, minimizing visual clutter, and choosing tools that don’t hide key actions behind low-contrast icons or ambiguous UI.

For developers and content teams, this is a reminder that the content editor experience matters. If a client can’t comfortably add a heading, insert a link, or update a page without assistance, the site becomes harder to maintain and more expensive over time.

Teaching WordPress When Vision Is Limited

Bud’s work as an educator adds another layer: not only using WordPress effectively, but explaining it to others. Teaching with low vision encourages a disciplined approach to instruction—one that benefits every learner, not only those with disabilities.

Make Instructions Structural, Not Visual

Many tutorials rely on cues like “click the blue button on the right” or “look for the small pencil icon.” That breaks down quickly for low-vision users, for anyone using a different device, or when UI updates change the layout.

More resilient teaching describes elements by name and function: “Open the page editor, then select ‘Settings’ and choose ‘Permalink’.” This reduces ambiguity and makes documentation last longer.

Reduce Cognitive Load With Consistency

Consistent terminology and predictable steps matter. If one lesson calls it the “Editor,” another calls it the “Composer,” and a third calls it “the backend writing area,” learners waste energy translating instead of learning. Bud’s perspective reinforces the value of clean, repeatable instruction—especially for clients who will manage their own sites.

Accessibility isn’t only a technical checklist—it’s the difference between someone participating fully and someone being blocked by friction.

Common Accessibility Challenges in WordPress (And Where They Show Up)

WordPress core has made meaningful accessibility improvements over the years, but real-world sites are ecosystems: themes, page builders, plugins, embedded widgets, and custom code. Bud’s experience points to recurring issues that disproportionately affect low-vision users.

Low-Contrast UI and “Invisible” States

Light gray text, placeholder-only labels, and subtle button styles can be hard to perceive even for users without vision loss—especially on laptops in bright environments. For low-vision users, these choices can make forms and settings panels frustrating.

Layouts That Break Under Zoom

High zoom should not cause content to overlap, truncate, or become inaccessible. In practice, admin screens and custom plugin pages sometimes assume a fixed viewport. When users zoom to 200% or more, important buttons can slide off-screen or become unreachable without horizontal scrolling.

Icon-Only Controls and Ambiguous Labels

Controls represented only by icons—without text labels or accessible names—force users to guess. When icons are small or low contrast, the problem multiplies. For WordPress site owners, this often appears in page builders, block patterns, and third-party dashboards that prioritize visual minimalism over clarity.

AI and Assistive Technology as a “Career Extender”

Bud discussed how technology and AI can help people stay productive longer. For low-vision professionals, the benefits can be immediate: summarizing long pages, rewriting text for clarity, extracting key points from documentation, or assisting with drafting and editing.

Concrete Ways AI Can Help Day-to-Day

• Reading assistance: quickly summarizing changelogs, support threads, or long documentation pages.
• Writing and editing: producing cleaner first drafts and tightening content without staring at dense text for long periods.
• Problem-solving support: generating step-by-step troubleshooting checklists that reduce back-and-forth and repetition.
• Alternative explanations: rephrasing instructions when a learner needs a different approach.

This is not about replacing expertise. It’s about reducing the time spent on visually intensive tasks, freeing attention for higher-value work like strategy, architecture, and teaching.

Designing for Low Vision: What Developers and Site Owners Can Do Now

Bud’s story is ultimately a practical call to action: build and maintain sites that remain usable under real conditions. Low-vision accessibility is achievable with disciplined design and testing habits.

High-Impact Improvements You Can Implement

• Test at 200% zoom (and ideally 400%) and confirm pages and admin screens remain usable without horizontal scrolling where possible.
• Increase color contrast for text, icons, and interactive elements; don’t rely on color alone to convey meaning.
• Keep focus indicators visible and ensure logical tab order, especially in forms and menus.
• Use clear labels for buttons and inputs; avoid icon-only actions unless they include accessible names and visible text alternatives.
• Choose themes and plugins thoughtfully; “feature-rich” doesn’t help if the interface becomes unreadable or fragile under zoom.

A Practical Testing Routine for WordPress Teams

If you manage multiple sites, treat accessibility checks as part of your release process. A simple routine—testing key templates, forms, navigation menus, and checkout flows at high zoom and high contrast—catches many issues before users do. It also reduces support requests and improves overall quality.

Conclusion: Building a Web That Works for More People

Bud Kraus’ experience teaching and using WordPress with macular degeneration is a reminder that accessibility is not theoretical. It shows up in everyday tasks: updating a page, adjusting a menu, reading settings, and learning a new workflow under time pressure.

For developers, designers, and business owners, the opportunity is clear: when you design for low vision—through contrast, scalable layouts, clear labels, and predictable interactions—you build sites that are easier for everyone to use. That translates into better usability, fewer errors, and a stronger brand experience.