As you may have heard, new federal guidelines governing web accessibility for public institutions take effect on April 24, 2026. The guidelines require state and local government websites and mobile apps to conform to WCAG 2.1 Level AA. InfoReady has been preparing for the mandate by dedicating portions of each release for over a year to improving accessibility throughout the platform. These efforts will help ensure that the organizations we work with will be compliant with accessibility standards.
One very notable platform update to help meet the new accessibility requirements is the new InfoReady homepage experience.
What’s different?
Aside from improved accessibility, the new homepage also delivers additional functionality and better usability and responsiveness across devices. The homepage looks more modern and is easier to navigate.
As shown in the screenshot below, the content blocks in the center and right sidebar have been replaced with a new collapsible message area at the top of the page. The new message area gives you full control of the content, formatting, documents, and image size that you would like to display to people visiting your InfoReady page.
With the right sidebar removed, the list of opportunities now displays across the whole width of the screen. The increased space can be used to include more columns on the table, which brings the benefit of delivering more information at-a-glance to users. That means less confusion and fewer button clicks!
The table also includes new search and filtering capabilities. Both functions can be used together to refine the results presented on the list. Even better, your refined list can be saved and shared by copying the link for the URL address bar. If any new opportunities are posted that match your criteria, then they will automatically appear whenever you use the link to the refined list.
What’s the upgrade process?
Quick, easy, and no cost. The new homepage is available to all InfoReady clients.
Simply have one of your main InfoReady administrators (i.e. a super admin or global admin) contact your account manager or submit a support ticket to initiate the homepage upgrade process. In the request, please include your InfoReady tenant URL and whether you would like the site style sheet (e.g. color scheme) to be updated. If you plan to update the style sheet, then an InfoReady rep will work with you to obtain the necessary hex codes to make the changes. The overall upgrade takes 1-2 business days to be completed, depending on any style sheet changes.
What’s the timeline?
We recommend upgrading as soon as you can. The new federal accessibility guidelines go into effect on Friday, April 24, 2026. CIO offices and IT teams at all institutions are working diligently to ensure all campus software, apps, and webpages will be in compliance with these guidelines by the deadline. If campus IT contacts you about InfoReady, feel free to share the InfoReady IT Documentation & Resources page with them. Any InfoReady tenant still on the legacy homepage after April 24 will be automatically updated by Friday, May 1, 2026.
Other things to know
- Site Style Sheet - Another variable that impacts website accessibility is the style sheet, which determines the color scheme of your tenant. Updating the style sheet could improve color contrasts to make pages easier to read and align your InfoReady page to any new branding your institution may have. If you are interested in style sheet changes, please include a note in your request so that we can work with you on the specific changes.
- Calendar Retirement – As part of the homepage upgrade, we will be retiring the Calendar page. The tool we use is out of date and is far behind accessibility standards. We plan to release new functionality this year that allows users to download the details and dates from an opportunity directly to their calendar.
- New Homepage vs Engage Homepage – These two are different, but related. The new homepage modernizes the front door to your InfoReady tenant and presents opportunities in an updated, user-friendly table. Meanwhile, the Engage Homepage (EHP) is a paid add-on to an InfoReady license that builds on the new homepage by also providing an “engaging” card and carousel view (think Netflix) with customized filters for enhanced discoverability. EHP has many other cool and helpful features and ways to move data around the platform that we would love to discuss with you.
- Continuous Accessibility Updates – We strive to deliver a platform accessible to users. InfoReady takes accessibility very seriously and allocates time in every monthly release on accessibility updates. This practice will not cease when the new guidelines take effect on April 24, 2026.
