February 10, 2026: (1) IECAM Data Hub, (2) Accessible web scheduling programs/components

Accessible web scheduling programs/components

• Current system uses OnceHub, pretty sure it’s inaccessible (doesn’t trap focus, can’t dismiss w/escape key).
  • For example, see Ask the Office of Undergraduate Research, then click “Appointment with OUR Staff”
  • Moving to cPanel WordPress site
• Bryan Jonker: have used MS Outlook for scheduling. Downside: takes them to another site
  • Microsoft options: MS Booking or direct scheduling via Outlook calendars
  • Keith: There are likely some Outlook booking integration plugins available for WordPress and Drupal. They’ll need to be evaluated for accessibility.
• Charlotte: they would prefer not to use Outlook, but could use it if only option
• Bryan: may be able to use a WordPress plugin, but may be more limited
• Hadi: UW currently has a good relationship with Microsoft regarding accessibility. Could work directly with Microsoft - reach out to Hadi if interested
• John Laskowski: Library uses LibCal from a group called Springshare to schedule consultations with subject specialists and reserve study spaces. Tim Offenstein did a review of the Springshare platform; would be happy to share that as well as their Accessibility Conformance Report if anyone is interested in exploring its use
  • LibCal example: Space Availability - Main Library
• Lindsey Sharp: we use Gravity Forms on cPanel; I don’t know how appropriate it would be for booking, specifically, though
• Cameron Macintosh: Pixo developed a custom scheduling app using Angular for the career center a while back: Scheduling system modernizes student career services
• Dena Strong: has anyone done an accessibility evaluation for Doodle?
  • Mark: last heard it was bad
  • Hadi: used to have an accessible mode of interacting, not sure if it still does
  • Lindsey: very ad heavey
  • Dena: tabbing looks good, but not sure about screen reader support
  • Michael McKelvey: they recently lowered the number of timeslots for a single survey in the free version; may need a paid version to use effectively
• Lindsey: A group of people from CITL are looking into the greatest needs in terms of accessible tools for specific purposes. They’re going to be talking at IGET tomorrow. I’ll for sure mention booking as a need.
• Please reach out to Charlotte with any additional suggestions!

IECAM Data Hub

• Dena: dark mode would be helpful; the swooping during map re-centering isn't fun for folks prone to motion sickness
• John: on the Detail screen, there is no way to "click" on the dots within the map by using the keyboard
  • Andy: ESRI map may not allow this
• Hadi: not seeing much as a screen reader user
  • Hadi: Need to provide a summarized version of data for screen reader users and researchers to download data
  • Hadi: see example of accessible maps UW created during COVID: IMHE
  • Hadi: typically recommend HighCharts as a tool for visualizations
  • Hadi: general guidance for visualizations: don’t simply link to massive dataset, that’s not useful/navigable
• Bryan: perhaps include a "SkipTo" link at the top that allows easier access to download / table views - that may give screen readers some context around the page easier?
• Keith: Jon Gunderson at UIUC created this utility, which many sites on campus now use: SkipTo.js to Bypass Blocks
• John: the download option opens a modal that looks like it has some good keyboard navigation. However, the demographics, sites, and capacity screen has some toggles that I can't seem to operate from the keyboard alone.
• Cameron: if you have accessibility concerns with the map page, what about using the "Details" tab as your landing page?
• Jack: is there successful work with making maps like this accessible? Or is providing the data in table format in CSV a common/acceptable alternative? It doesn’t feel completely appropriate, but I can’t really understand how to navigate a map or map layers with keyboard or screen reader.
• Keith: ESRI uses Canvas for its graphical views. Common options I’ve seen include:
  • Reimplementing as an interactive SVG
  • Create an interactive HTML representation that is updated as the Canvas is updated. This does not need to be visible. It supports interaction via ARIA focus management. It’s tricky to implement
  • Present the data in a summary table and for download for analysis (helpful, but not a full replacement for the visualizations)
• Michael: need to define ARIA landmarks
  • ARIA Authoring Practices Guide (APG): Landmark Regions
  • Mozilla Developer Network: ARIA: landmark role
  • Making HTML Content More Accessible with ARIA Landmark Roles
• Keith: need to define headings
  • On the details page, there are some Level 6 headings that are serving to label the graphs. Headings need to be used in order without skipping levels. H1 is reserved for the page title. All other headings should begin with H2 and proceed downward from there.
  • Accessibility Fundamentals: Headings
• Top-right links:
  • Discussion about whether Map, Details, Download links should be a tablist or simply navigation elements. Harder to determine in a Single Page Application (SPA).
  • Keith: top-right links may be simply a <nav>, or maybe they should be a tablist, in which case you would keep focus on currently selected nav item after clicking it, since it’s kind of acting more like it's switching out a section of the page... Complicated by the fact that it's swapping out the contents of the entire page, not just the main section.
  • Bryan: here's a tablist example: APG Tabs Pattern
  • Michael: is there a way to indicate Map/Details/Download maintain filters/state when clicked?
  • Keith: add aria-current to selected nav item. Concerned about lack of feedback for switching pages.
• Keith: would it be possible to show a Download link at bottom of Map/Details pages for the currently filtered data instead of separate page? Or maybe in addition to separate page?
• Hadi: recommend collapsing filters by default