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maidr

Overview

maidr (Multimodal Access and Interactive Data Representation) makes data visualizations accessible to users with visual impairments. It converts ggplot2 and Base R plots into interactive, accessible HTML/SVG formats with keyboard navigation, screen reader support, and sonification.

The package provides two main functions:

show() displays an interactive accessible plot in RStudio Viewer or browser
save_html() exports a plot as a standalone HTML file

Installation

Install the stable release from CRAN:

install.packages("maidr")

Or install the development version from GitHub:

# Using pak (recommended)
pak::pak("xability/r-maidr")

# Alternative: using pacman (auto-installs if missing)
pacman::p_load_gh("xability/r-maidr")

Usage

ggplot2

library(maidr)
library(ggplot2)

p <- ggplot(mpg, aes(x = class)) +
  geom_bar(fill = "steelblue") +
  labs(title = "Vehicle Classes", x = "Class", y = "Count")

# Display interactive accessible plot
show(p)

# Or save to file
save_html(p, "vehicle_classes.html")

Base R

library(maidr)

# Create plot first
barplot(
  table(mtcars$cyl),
  main = "Cars by Cylinder Count",
  xlab = "Cylinders",
  ylab = "Count"
)

# Then call show() without arguments
show()

Supported plot types

maidr supports a wide range of visualization types in both ggplot2 and Base R:

Basic Plot Types

Plot Type	ggplot2	Base R
Bar charts	`geom_bar()`, `geom_col()`	`barplot()`
Grouped/Dodged bars	`position = "dodge"`	`beside = TRUE`
Stacked bars	`position = "stack"`	`beside = FALSE`
Histograms	`geom_histogram()`	`hist()`
Scatter plots	`geom_point()`	`plot()`
Line plots	`geom_line()`	`plot(type = "l")`, `lines()`
Box plots	`geom_boxplot()`	`boxplot()`
Heatmaps	`geom_tile()`	`image()`
Violin plots	`geom_violin()`	—
Candlestick (OHLC)	`tidyquant::geom_candlestick()` (+ `geom_ma()`, + patchwork volume)	`quantmod::chartSeries()` (OHLC-only; no TA / no volume)
Density/Smooth	`geom_smooth()`, `geom_density()`	`lines(density())`

Note: Volume bars and moving-average overlays for candlestick charts are supported only on the ggplot2 + {tidyquant} + {patchwork} path. On the Base R path, quantmod::chartSeries() TA overlays (addVo(), addSMA(), addEMA()) — and the default TA whenever the input xts carries a Volume column — fall back to native (non-accessible) graphics with a one-time advisory.

Advanced Plot Types

Plot Type	ggplot2	Base R
Faceted plots	`facet_wrap()`, `facet_grid()`	`par(mfrow/mfcol)` + loops
Multi-panel layouts	`patchwork` package	`par(mfrow)`, `par(mfcol)`
Multi-layered plots	Multiple `geom_*` layers	Sequential plot calls

See vignette("plot-types") for detailed examples of each plot type.

Accessibility features

Keyboard navigation - explore data points using arrow keys
Screen reader support - full ARIA labels and live announcements
Sonification - hear data patterns through sound
Text descriptions - automatic statistical summaries

Offline support

By default, maidr auto-detects internet availability and loads the MAIDR.js library from a CDN. Use the use_cdn parameter for explicit control:

# Force CDN (requires internet)
show(p, use_cdn = TRUE)

# Force bundled files (works offline)
show(p, use_cdn = FALSE)
save_html(p, "plot.html", use_cdn = FALSE)

Getting help

Report bugs or request features at GitHub Issues
Read the documentation at the package website

Learning more

vignette("getting-started", package = "maidr") for an introduction
vignette("plot-types", package = "maidr") for supported visualizations
vignette("shiny-integration", package = "maidr") for Shiny apps

These binaries (installable software) and packages are in development.
They may not be fully stable and should be used with caution. We make no claims about them.