Flutter Belgium Meetup: An Event Full of Innovation

Flutter Belgium recently organized an event that focused entirely on innovative projects and the crucial role of accessibility in software development. Here are the key points.

Lightning Talks: Inspiring Projects

During the Lightning Talks, various exciting projects were presented:

WebRTC File Sharing: A demo app that exchanges files between devices via WebRTC.

Displaying Breweries: A project that shows breweries on a map using GeoJSON.

Bitcoin Wallet: An application for managing Bitcoin.

OCR and YOLO: Smart Solutions for Agriculture

An in-depth presentation demonstrated how OCR and the YOLO library are used to help farmers. This system checks if the right products are delivered to the correct silos and if the hoses are properly connected, helping to prevent waste and wrong deliveries.

The Necessity of Accessibility

A major theme of the event was accessibility:

Why is Accessibility Important?: Accessibility is essential for 15% of the population. However, it is important for everyone, such as people with temporary mobility limitations due to injury.

Misconceptions About Accessibility: Accessibility doesn't have to be expensive if you start early. An inaccessible product is often just poorly designed.

Solutions for Accessibility:

Sensory: Larger fonts and components, use semantics for buttons and actions for blind users.

Cognitive Accessibility: Dyslexic fonts, short texts for ADHD.

Mobility: Heatmaps for one-handed use. Place buttons where they are easy to reach.

Territorial Accessibility: Consider countries with expensive data plans or older phones. Apps such as Facebook Lite are designed for these users. They are lightweight and use less data.

Flutter Belgium's event provided valuable insights and emphasized the importance of integrating accessibility into software development from the start. This interesting info session is also available on YouTube.