Summer 2025

Happy summer! This issue of the PPO newsletter follows up on some big news announced in our Spring newsletter. 

To recap, we recently had an external accessibility audit performed on PastPerfect Online. Since the audit, our team has been working hard to incorporate the feedback we received. With these changes, the base template on which all PPO sites are built will meet Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.2 Level AA criteria. Although an individual organization’s data entry, settings, and design makes their PastPerfect Online site unique, the first step to having an accessible site is an accessible foundation!

Over the next 6-8 weeks, we will be sending a few reminder and notification emails to the person designated as the primary PPO contact, also known as the PPO Admin, for each site. Keep reading after the FAQs to learn more about what being a PPO Admin means, as well as how to update the Admin for your organization.

Q. Will visitors be able to reach my site during this transition period?

A. Yes! Your site will remain available to your web visitors the entire time -- from now through the update’s roll-out period.

Q. When will the update be available?

A. The update will be available by July 16th.

Q. What if I need to update the data or images shared on my site?

A. There will be no interruption to data and image uploads. You can continue to create and publish files as usual.

Q. Is there anything I won’t be able do to during the transition?

A. Starting next Wednesday, June 11th, the Interface Management Site will be unavailable. Also referred to as the IMS Admin site, this is where you can modify your site design and some functionality settings, such as choosing which forms are enabled. Our team will examine each site’s design during this maintenance period, preparing any necessary modifications to accommodate for the changes. For example, we will make sure the new mobile navigation menu coordinates with the colors used throughout your site. 

Q. Do I need to do anything to prepare for or to install this update?

A. No! Updates to the “behind-the-scenes” software and code for PPO are pushed out automatically from our end. However, we recommend you closely review your site once the update has rolled out to familiarize yourself with the new and updated functionality.

Q. Does this mean my site will automatically meet WCAG 2.2 Level AA criteria as soon as the update is live?

A. Not necessarily. Although the core PPO template all sites use will comply with the guidelines, there are many things on your end affecting how accessible your site is. This includes your custom styling in IMS, the data entry on your records in PastPerfect itself, and your settings for shared fields. Some of the biggest choices that can make an organization’s site inaccessible are insufficient color contrast, missing or non-descriptive alt text for images, and a lack of captions or alternative content for shared multimedia.

Due to the number of PastPerfect Online sites, our preparation during the maintenance phase mentioned above will not evaluate or change existing styles that may fail WCAG criteria. After the update is in place, our team will check for non-compliant styling issues during the initial setup of new PPO sites and when assisting with redesigns of existing PPO sites.

Do you have a question about the update that we missed?

Email the PPO team!

When an organization begins using PastPerfect Online, we ask them to designate a PPO Admin to be our primary contact for their site.

Your PPO Admin is the person we reach out to when we need to share important information about your site, including confirmations for data uploads, maintenance alerts, and notifications if more records are uploaded than your hosting level allows. Each PPO Admin is also given a login for IMS.

To ensure that time-sensitive issues can be addressed quickly and effectively, the PPO Admin should be someone who works directly with PastPerfect Online rather than an IT person or general administrator.

Your Welcome Letter lists the contact information we have on file for your PPO Admin. We also include their name and email address on Annual Hosting Renewal notices. If you would like to change the name or email address of your PPO Admin, please have the current contact email pposupport@museumsoftware.com with the updated information.

We are asking each of our staff to choose a favorite item from one of the many online collections. This photograph was selected from the online collection of the Atascadero Historical Society by Matt:

“Each summer, our family would go down to the beach. Our beach house was next to a jetty so we would get some fishing rods and spend some time trying to catch some fish. I never had quite the same luck as these two gentlemen.”

Featured Sites

Sullenberger Aviation Museum

Parks Tacoma

The Port of Los Angeles

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.