Audit
We test your site against WCAG 2.1 AA — automated scan plus manual evaluation by a real auditor. You get a prioritised report mapping each finding to the WCAG criterion it fails and the practical remediation.
Accessibility auditsUX research, testing & accessibility audits for Irish businesses.
Usability.ie is the UX research and testing practice from the team behind digitaldesign.ie. We run usability tests, heuristic audits, WCAG 2.1 AA accessibility audits, user research and conversion optimisation — and hand off to digitaldesign.ie when the work needs to flow into design and build.
Independent · Ireland-based · WCAG 2.1 AA / European Accessibility Act compliant
The accessibility deadline already passed.
The European Accessibility Act came into force in Ireland on 28 June 2025. Most affected Irish businesses — banks, telecoms, e-commerce, transport, public-facing service providers — are now ten months past compliance. Penalties run up to €100,000 or 4% of annual revenue. If your site hasn't been audited against WCAG 2.1 AA, this is the catch-up window.
Remediate
Where the audit surfaces design or development changes, our sister studio digitaldesign.ie handles the implementation. End-to-end remediation under one engagement, no agency-juggling.
Visit digitaldesign.ieDocument
You receive an Accessibility Statement (template the EAA expects) and a remediation log demonstrating reasonable effort — both useful in the event of a CCPC enquiry.
Read the EAA guideOur services
Five core engagements. Each one delivered by an Irish-based UX practitioner. Where the work flows into design or build, the handoff to digitaldesign.ie is seamless — we share files, kit, and project management.
Accessibility audit (WCAG 2.1 AA / EAA)
Full accessibility evaluation against WCAG 2.1 Level AA. Automated tooling plus real-keyboard, screen-reader, and zoom testing. Prioritised findings tied to the WCAG criteria they fail. Accessibility Statement included.
Service detailsHeuristic / expert UX audit
An experienced auditor walks your site as a target user. We map findings to Nielsen's 10 heuristics, score severity, and prioritise the fixes likeliest to move your conversion rate. Usually the cheapest UX intervention with the highest payback.
Service detailsUsability testing
Five to eight target users, recorded sessions, moderated tasks. Where heuristic audits show what an expert thinks, usability testing shows what real users actually do. The combination is more powerful than either alone.
Service detailsUser research
Stakeholder interviews, customer interviews, surveys, persona work. Used at the start of a redesign or when a product isn't converting and you don't yet know why.
Service detailsConversion-rate optimisation
For sites with traffic but weak conversion. We identify the friction points, propose specific changes, A/B test where the volume supports it, and report back on lift.
Service detailsEnd-to-end with digitaldesign.ie
The combined engagement: usability.ie audits and researches; digitaldesign.ie redesigns and rebuilds. One contact, one bill, one timeline. Best for sites that need a real overhaul rather than a tweak.
How the partnership worksInsights from the practice
Long-form articles on the questions Irish businesses ask before commissioning UX work.
European Accessibility Act compliance in Ireland — the 2026 catch-up guide
The EAA deadline was June 2025; we're ten months past. What it covers, who's exempt, what penalties look like under the CCPC, and how to retrofit compliance now that the deadline has gone.
Read the guideHeuristic audit vs usability testing: which one first?
Both are useful. They surface different things. Doing them in the wrong order wastes budget. Here's how to sequence them for an Irish small-business site.
Read the comparisonEight UX patterns that quietly kill conversion
Common UX mistakes on Irish small-business sites that hurt conversion without ever showing up in analytics — and the fixes that surface measurable lift within a sprint.
Read the patternsWhere you've probably encountered our team
Our principal practitioners have worked across Irish e-commerce, financial services, public-sector portals and retail websites. The same team operates digitaldesign.ie for design and build, and contributes to the themarketingpod.ie editorial journal on Irish digital marketing.