We are committed to providing you a website that is accessible to the widest possible audiences.
Summary: Information about the site, how to change how it looks and tips for people using screen readers.
Using the Site
We have aimed to create a site that is available to everyone including those with sight, audio and motor impairment restrictions.
- We aim to use a web font so all text is easy to read.
- We have appropriate alt tags for images to convey information.
- We ensure that navigation through our websites works in a consistent way.
- We do not rely on just colour as the only way of giving information.
- We avoid the use of images of text wherever possible, and provide equivalent text links that consist of images.
Here are a few helpful ways in which you can start using the website more easily.
To enlarge text and images on the site
On a PC:
- Hold down the 'Ctrl' key and press '+' to enlarge.
- Hold down the 'Ctrl' key and press '-' to reduce.
- To reset hold down 'Ctrl' and press '0'.
On an Apple Macintosh computer hold the 'Cmd' (Apple) key instead of 'Ctrl'.
Browser accessibility options
Each browser has different methods for font size, formatting, and screen color options:
- Google Chrome accessibility options, under the Chrome Browser Resources section.
- Internet Explorer accessibility options.
- Mozilla Firefox accessibilty options.
The BBC also has information on how to customise your computer, and your browser, to make them more accessible in their 'My web my way' section.
To change the size of the window of the site
On the browser View menu select 'Full screen' or press 'F11'.
Search Tips
A search box appears at the top of each page. To get the best results follow these tips:
Use keywords - the search won't work well using natural language, keywords will find better results.
How the Site is built for Accessibility
Standards
We strive to make all pages validate to a W3C formal grammar.
Layout
The site uses Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) to control all of the presentation and layout. Tables are used only to present data.
As a result screen reader users can use the screen reader's navigation key to get around the site. If you are listening to the site, menus are grouped together in a more logical fashion.
Content
The content has been written and formatted to make it accessible. For example:
- Headings highlight sections of text (a h1 starts the content area of each page).
- Sentences are short with the meaning at the beginning.
- Links use meaningful text.
- Forms can be navigated using the tab key.
Accessibility Barriers
Through research of standard guidelines, we are continually working to improve the accessibility of our site, in the meantime should you experience any difficulties please contact us explaining the problems you encountered.
Contact
If you are experiencing difficulties accessing the site, or have any comments, please do not hesitate to contact us via our contact page.