Accessible UX: from obligation to opportunity

Accessible UX: from obligation to opportunity

Since June 2025, the European Accessibility Act (EAA) has come into effect, making digital accessibility a legal requirement for all organizations that offer customer-facing applications in the public domain. Similar principles are also applied elsewhere, including in the UK, Canada, New Zealand, and more are following. Whether you provide a web shop, a customer portal or a self-service app, your digital channels must be accessible to people with impairments as they are to everyone else.

Working with OutSystems or Oracle APEX, accessibility can no longer be seen as a side issue. It is a quality criterion that needs to be considered from the very start of each project and continuously monitored and maintained afterwards. It is an investment in better user experience, customer satisfaction and inclusivity. And, focusing on the business aspect, it provides organizations with a competitive advantage.

Why accessibility matters

Digital accessibility means designing applications and websites so that they can be used regardless of physical, cognitive or social limitations. There are 4 types of impairments you should take care of:

• Visual: color blindness, low vision, blindness
• Auditive: Deafness, Tinnitus
• Motor: Missing limbs, muscular diseases
• Cognitive: memory issues, PTSD, Photosensitive epilepsy

Figure 1 4 ways of looking at a pie chart. Top left: No visual impairment. Top right: Blurred vision. Bottom left: Protanopia colorblindness (no red). Bottom right: Blindness

Besides the permanent impairments mentioned above, impairments can also be situational or temporary. Think of:

• Visual: using your laptop in bright sunlight
• Auditive: watching a video in a noisy environment
• Motor: a broken arm or having a cup of coffee in your hand
• Cognitive: Having a migraine attack or a burn out.

While temporary impairments can often be overcome by adjusting to the situation or simply waiting, people with permanent impairments do not have that option. If applications are not designed with accessibility in mind, entire groups of users are effectively excluded.

What the law says

The EAA requires that digital services in Europe comply with clear standards based on the international WCAG 2.1 AA standards (Web Content Accessibility Guidelines) which are structured around four principles:

1. Perceivable: information must be available in multiple forms such as text alternatives for images and captions for video.
2. Operable: applications must be used by different methods, such as keyboard-only or voice control.
3. Understandable: content and navigation must be clear and predictable.
4. Robust: applications must work reliably with assistive technologies such as screen readers.

Organizations with inaccessible software risk lawsuits and reputational damage. In contrast, having an inclusive web application enhances your brand image and improves your SEO ranking, creating a win-win for both users and your organization.

What does the EAA mean for OutSystems

The UI patterns OutSystems offers are designed to align with the WCAG 2.1 guidelines, including keyboard navigation and screen reader support. This already provides a strong starting point, but attention is still required on some parts:

• Design consistency: Having proper input labels and a predictable navigation and logical flow creates an intuitive way of using a web app.
• Colors and cluttering: using sufficient color contrast and the right amount of whitespace between elements improves readability and overall user experience.
• Custom widgets: Once you build your own components, accessibility features of course do need to be added. Think of ARIA labels and semantic HTML.

More about Accessibility in OutSystems applications will be told at the ONE conference in Lisbon. Make sure to join the ‘Inclusive by Default’ session of Joris Albeda and David Nieuwenhuizen on the 1^st of October.

What does the EAA mean for Oracle APEX      

The components APEX provides are generally built with accessibility in mind and follow the WCAG 2.1 guidelines. Helpful descriptions are available within the platform for settings related to accessibility. This gives developers a strong foundation, but in practice the difference between good and poor accessibility comes down to implementation. Some key areas to pay attention to are:

– Date pickers: APEX offers two types — the popup date picker and the native HTML date picker. The popup version lacks proper screen reader support and is challenging for keyboard navigation. The native HTML date picker, however, provides much stronger accessibility support.

– Theme Roller: When customizing styles, color contrast ratios are calculated automatically. Still, it’s important to ensure the chosen colors provide sufficient contrast for readability.

– Template components: When building your own components, you’re responsible for accessibility. This means applying ARIA labels and using semantic HTML to maintain inclusivity.

Testing

To ensure your application complies with the WCAG guidelines, dedicated testing is required. Automated tools such as WAVE and Axe and Lighthouse, available in Chrome DevTools, can quickly identify common issues like missing labels, insufficient color contrast, or incorrect heading structures.

Besides that, also manual testing is needed: Use a screen reader such as NVDA, Narrator or VoiceOver, and test your app by using keyboard only. If possible, involve users with different impairments in test sessions. This combination of testing ensures that accessibility is not just theoretical but truly works and complies in practice.

Conclusion

The EAA enforces companies to comply with the WCAG 2.1 standards. Organizations that do not have an inclusive app yet should audit their app quickly to prevent lawsuits. Accessibility for public facing applications must be embedded throughout the entire development process, from design and development to testing and maintenance.

Accessibility is not only about compliance. For some people it is the difference between inclusion and exclusion from digital society. Everyone involved in building applications should keep that responsibility in mind.

Want to learn more? Join the UX/UI training for OutSystems or APEX at Transfer Solutions, look at our site or contact us with any questions.