OpenProject 18.0: Making project management more accessible

Accessibility means that everyone should be able to use OpenProject, regardless of their abilities or the technologies they rely on. It’s something we care deeply about and have been working on since the very beginning of OpenProject.

With OpenProject 18.0, we’re taking another step forward. We’re improving how users can work with colors, identifying accessibility barriers across the application, and making information about our accessibility efforts easier to find.

Some of this work started during our Passion Time 2026, when colleagues had the opportunity to dedicate time to projects close to their hearts.

Preview highlighting colors and check contrast

Colors help us quickly recognize statuses, priorities, and other important information in a project. But colors that look clear to one person might be difficult to distinguish for someone else.

With OpenProject 18.0, we’re making it easier for administrators to preview highlighting colors and check their contrast when configuring them. This helps teams choose colors more thoughtfully and makes important information easier to recognize for people with visual impairments or color vision deficiencies.

Screenshot: Preview highlighting colors and check their contrast in OpenProject 18.0.

Finding and removing accessibility barriers

Not all accessibility improvements start with a feature request. Sometimes, we need to take a closer look at what is already there. During Passion Time, colleagues set out to audit OpenProject’s components and pages using AXE, an automated accessibility testing tool. The aim was to uncover barriers that might otherwise go unnoticed. The audit helped identify issues and define further improvements, giving us a clearer picture of where to focus our efforts.

It’s an important part of our ongoing work: understanding where people might struggle with OpenProject and making those experiences better, one improvement at a time.

More accessibility improvements planned for OpenProject 18.0

Beyond the Passion Time initiatives, several other accessibility improvements are planned for OpenProject 18.0. Many of them focus on making everyday tasks easier for people who use a keyboard or screen reader.

For example, we’re working on improving keyboard navigation and screen reader support in the work package table and Backlogs. The goal is to make it possible to navigate work packages, select multiple items, and access context actions without relying on a mouse. We’re also improving how selection states are communicated to screen readers, so users can better understand which work packages they’ve selected.

Other planned improvements include:

• More intuitive keyboard shortcuts: Pressing Escape to clear work package selections in tables and card views, instead of Ctrl/Cmd+D.
• Accessible charts and graphs: Adding descriptions or equivalent textual information to charts in dashboard widgets and Backlogs, so screen reader users can understand their content.
• Better support for custom logos: Allowing administrators to upload different logos for light, dark, and high-contrast modes, helping organizations keep their branding recognizable across different display settings.
• Improved accessibility in the rich text editor: Working on clearer screen reader descriptions and keyboard interactions for work packages embedded in text.

Some of these changes may not be immediately visible, but they can make a real difference for people who depend on assistive technologies.

Read more: Explore the accessibility improvements planned for OpenProject 18.0 and beyond.

A dedicated page for accessibility at OpenProject

Another Passion Time project was the creation of a new accessibility page on our website. We wanted to give accessibility a more visible place and make it easier for people to learn about our approach, the features already available, and the areas we’re still working on. Whether you’re evaluating OpenProject for your organization or already using it, the page offers an overview of where we stand and where we want to go.

Accessibility is an ongoing commitment

Accessibility has been part of OpenProject’s story since we forked Redmine in 2012. Over the years, we’ve introduced improvements such as high-contrast mode, better keyboard navigation, and more accessible interface components.

OpenProject 18.0 continues this work. And while Passion Time gave some of these initiatives the space to grow, accessibility is something our teams work on throughout the year. We know there’s still more to do. The accessibility audit has already helped us identify further opportunities, and the next external accessibility audit is already being planned.

Because in the end, good project management is about people working together. And everyone should be able to take part.