Case Study

ADA-Compliant, Designed and Developed to Exceed Best-Practices Benchmarks.

Client: Theatre Development Fund
Project: TANYC, TDF App Based On Website, ADA Compliance, App Update

ADA Compliant

Search + Filter

Screenreader Accessible

Through multiple projects on multiple platforms, through difficult 3rd-party integrations, through even the pandemic that threatened to shut down Broadway for good, Art+Logic and TDF have built a warm relationship that surpasses the client-service provider model and centers on compassion, transparency, supportiveness, and trust.

overview

Overview

The Theater Development Fund (TDF) has been working since 1968 as a not-for-profit service organization providing support to theatrical works of artistic merit. TDF is one of several organizations deeply embedded in the promotion and management of the Broadway, Off-Broadway, and Off-off Broadway production community. Their services are used by visitors to NYC looking to “take in a show.” Through TDF’s website and familiar street-level kiosks, they can the vast set of theaters, shows, and show-times of the NYC theater scene.

Art+Logic was contacted by TDF’s internal IT team leadership in 2010 to create native iOS and Android apps.

This marked the beginning of a collaborative relationship spanning more than a decade and which continues to this day.

Through multiple projects on multiple platforms, through difficult 3rd-party integrations, through even the pandemic that threatened to shut down Broadway for good, Art+Logic and TDF have built a warm relationship that surpasses the client-service provider model and centers on compassion, transparency, supportiveness, and trust.

tkts

In 2010, early in mobile app development history, TDF wanted to bring their popular website and it’s search functionality to the mobile platform. Art+Logic created tkts, a solution still in use today, and in maintenance with Art+Logic. “tkts” provides real-time listings for all Broadway and Off Broadway shows along with a purchasing portal for discounted tickets.

It received more than 12,000 downloads in it’s first 4 days in the app store

It received more than 12,000 downloads in it’s first 4 days in the app store and provides a comprehensive search where users can find descriptions, performance schedules, theater locations, and accessibility information for virtually all the plays, musicals, and dance performances happening in New York City.

Updating tkts

In 2019, TDF asked Art+Logic to revisit the tkts apps and update them to support a more integrated payment system. We took this as an opportunity to also update the app codebase. While the upgrade work was suspended as Broadway shut down during the pandemic, we were able to complete the work in 2020, giving TDF time to focus on reopening Broadway.

TANYC

Theatre Access New York City

A key part of TDF’s mission is to encourage and enable diverse audiences to attend live theatre and dance productions.

In 2015, TDF asked us to prepare a proposal to redesign the current TDF site to be ADA compliant. Based upon our recent work redesigning the Trader Joe’s website for ADA compliance, we developed a detailed plan of implementation for TDF. We lost the bid due to the projected cost of the effort, however, we continued to keep in touch with our primary contacts at TDF.

In reviewing our earlier proposal, TDF realized that we had identified areas of focus, best-practices, and standards that were sorely lacking in their new site.

We architected the site with keyboard access and screen readers as the driving force for the user experience. Rather than our normal “visual” approach to UI design, we re-imagined the site by “listening” and navigating the site using only keyboard controls.

We crafted a solid HTML5 framework, following WAI-ARIA guidelines, with properly organized headings and verbose labels and descriptions, ensuring navigation and instructions are always clear. The end result is a fully accessible, keyboard friendly, ADA compliant site for theatre goers to find accommodation-specific shows on Broadway.

We constructed a solution to deal with this data-heavy site. We increased the normalization of the database to improve the clarity and efficiency of the mapping between shows and their accommodations. Within the app logic, we ensured that the filters were applied in an effective order. Moreover, to save user effort, we persisted most of the filters in a long-term cookie so that they would not need to be re-entered repeatedly; however, we stored the optional search string in a short-term cookie so that the user would not have to go through the trouble of resetting it after a search. In the browser, we relied on HTML attributes to support the CSS styles and ARIA capabilities to help users select filters and get results.

Art+Logic continues to maintain this website.

integration

3rd-Party Integration for Theater Managers

In 2018, TDF asked us to help migrate them from a home-grown ticketing system based on the 20-year-old (pre.NET) ASP platform to a 3rd-party ticketing system designed for single theater usage. The obvious delta in functionality was that TDF manages hundreds of theaters, with multiple concurrently-running shows, and innumerable show-times.While this was certainly the bulk of the effort, there were other retrofits required to bridge the gap between the 3rd-party platform’s functionality and supporting the entirety of tDF’s business logic. We replaced the 3rd-party platform’s standard ticket browse/search and order history UI with a custom UI that fulfilled several ticketing requirements unique to TDF. We also implemented a rules-engine driven alert system that enables TDF to manage priority, text, and triggers for alerting the end-user about membership-type renewal or expiration, invalid contact or payment info, and other conditions.

Other retrofits required to bridge the gap between the 3rd-party platform’s functionality and supporting the entirety of TDF’s business logic.

Art+Logic continues to maintain the integration.

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