Fall 2025

Our much anticipated PastPerfect Online update is now available on all sites! We are incredibly grateful for your patience throughout this process.

Those of you designated as your site's primary PPO contact, a.k.a. the "PPO Admin", may feel a sense of déjà vu while reading this edition of the newsletter. Because this topic is so important, some parts are repeated from notifications we've sent to PPO Admins over the past few months. However, we ask that you still take the time to read through it all -- you may find something you missed before or even learn something new entirely!

While we worked with an external team of accessibility experts and users with disabilities to inform our development process, we also know that there is no one perfect answer or solution to address every possible need. If you have questions about this update, would like assistance making changes to your site settings, or find something on your site that poses a significant accessibility barrier, please email the PPO Team at pposupport@museumsoftware.com.

The latest update included several general user experience improvements and addresses issues that were identified during an accessibility audit of PPO's conformance with Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.2 Level AA.

A comprehensive list of changes is available in the Knowledge Base, but you can find screenshots of the biggest differences that you and your visitor will notice below.

Improved responsive design: An updated mobile menu has been added, allowing visitors on a phone or tablet to always have access to all available navigation options. Sites also resize appropriately to fit the width of medium-sized screens and no longer require a horizontal scrollbar to display the full page.

Helpful search hints: Help text on the Keyword and Catalog Search pages has been moved above the search box so it is presented to visitors before they begin a search. The default tips have been expanded to provide more detailed information right where your visitors need it most. We've also added a section for help text on the Random Images page.

Emphasis on images: Large images are displayed front and center directly on Random Images and individual record pages, so visitors no longer need to click a thumbnail to open a separate image viewer.

Integrated forms: Forms now open in a dialog window on the current page instead of a small, separate browser window.

For someone who does not need accommodations to navigate online content, it can unfortunately be very easy to think of web accessibility as something that is nice to provide but not a high priority. They may even assume that web accessibility exclusively refers to one specific group of people, such as those who use a screen reader because they are completely blind.

In reality, web accessibility allows everyone to have equal access to online content.

The guidelines set by WCAG help to expand who can interact with your content. Many of the guidelines also improve the experience for all visitors, not just those who have disabilities. For example:

• Providing captions and transcripts for audio or video content allows visitors who are d/Deaf or Hard-of-Hearing to consume the same media. It also benefits visitors who can't turn up the volume on their device in a noisy or public environment.
• Considering the color contrast of your text and links makes a significant difference for someone with low vision or colorblindness, and it also helps someone using their cellphone while outside in direct sunlight.
• Sites that can be navigated using only a keyboard benefits users who do not have fine motor control and cannot use a mouse, but also any user whose mouse is malfunctioning.

There are many choices on your end that determine how accessible your individual PPO site is -- or isn't! This includes your data entry in PastPerfect itself, your settings for shared fields, and custom styling in IMS. There are many great resources online that provide in-depth guidance on everything related to web accessibility. As you begin your accessibility journey, we'd like to share a few of the tools our team has used for this update.

• Contrast Checker and Link Contrast Checker by WebAIM
• WAVE Web Accessibility Evaluation Tool by WebAIM
• Web Accessibility Evaluation Tools List by W3C’s Web Accessibility Initiative

New and refreshed content, including links to additional resources, will be gradually published through our free online resources, including the User Guide, Knowledge Base, and training videos.

An Accessibility Conformance Report (ACR), also referred to as a completed Voluntary Product Accessibility Template (VPAT), is available upon request by emailing accessibility@museumsoftware.com.

We are asking each of our staff to choose a favorite item from one of the many online collections. Amanda's pick is a birthday card from the Rogers Historical Museum:

“If there is a choice between sentimental or funny birthday cards, I will always pick the funny ones. When I found this birthday card, I felt this would be exactly the type of card that I would have selected. The use of “dad jokes” makes this card even better in my opinion. There is just something about a corny dad joke that has its own special charm. You may groan at the delivery, but it’s usually followed by a laugh and a smile.”

Featured Sites

The Sea Ranch Archives

Grimsby Museum

Auburn Cord Duesenberg Automobile Museum

View more PastPerfect Online sites on our List of Collections page.

If your site is not listed and you would like to be, please let us know by sending an email with your organization name to pposupport@museumsoftware.com.