Accessibility

I have endeavoured to remove barriers to this website so that people with disabilities can access information and use the website as easily as possible, with all the functionality that should be expected by us all. I have designed:

• 'skip over repeated elements' such as navigation menus
• put text equivalents for graphics
• designed the web site so that it can be read in the correct order by assistive technologies, such as screen reader software
• made links that are descriptive and make sense out of context
• Ensured that there is sufficient colour contrast between the text and background and that colour alone is not used to convey information
• This site has been designed with style sheets to allow maximum flexibility
• Header tags and tables summaries have been effectively added to this site to help clarity of the website

As well as other techniques to assist accessibility

Text Size

If you'd prefer the font size to be larger or smaller, then you can easily alter this using your browser.

To increase or decrease the text size, follow these simple instructions:

for Internet Explorer

• Click on the 'View' menu in your browser
• Click on the 'Text size' option
• Select the size you would like to see

for Netscape Navigator 4

• Click on the 'View' menu in your browser
• Click on the 'Increase Font' option

for Netscape 6+ or Mozilla 1.5+

• Click on the 'View' menu in your browser
• Go to the 'Text Zoom' option
• Select 'Larger' or a percentage of the original font size, e.g. 120%

for Mozilla Firefox

• Click on the 'View' menu in your browser
• Click on the 'Increase Text Size' option

for Opera

• Click on the 'View' menu in your browser
• Go to the 'Zoom' option
• Select the percentage of the original font size you require, e.g. 120%

Skip Links

If you are using an audio browser (screen reader software):

• Skip Logo : to skip over the logos at the top of each page and to go to the navigation menu
• Skip Navigation : If you don't wish to have the navigation read out to you on every page, I have included a 'skip navigation' link as one of the first entries on the page. If you select this link you will be taken straight to the main content area
• Skip Footer : you can skip over the bottom navigation bar and the copyright / credits section.
  

International Standards this site meets or exceeds:

Web Accessibility Initiative. Conformance Level A of the W3C (the international web standards organisation) Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 1.0, including all Priority 1 checkpoints, which explain how to make web content accessible to people with disabilities. Conformance to these Guidelines helps make the web more accessible to users with disabilities and will benefit all users.

Validation to accessibility level A (WAI) standard using Bobby - an online accessibility checking tool.

This site uses valid Cascading Style sheet standards - the language that should be used for the presentation (styling) of a website.

This web page may be viewed accurately on a text only Browser such as Lynx.

The website has been thoroughly tested:

• To ensure compliance to international standards, thereby guaranteeing that different browsers will render the web page as intended and that assistive technology (which is designed considering these standards) works well
• With a a text only browser (Lynx)
• With Bobby -a program which tests the validity to accessibility (WAI) standards. See http://bobby.watchfire.com
• For colour contrast by printing in black and white and checking how readable the site is
• At different screen resolutions (though you may need to scroll horizontally at small screen resolutions, or with larger than normal font sizes)
• For different Browsers - Internet Explorer 6, Netscape Navigator 4, 6, 7, Mozilla 1.5, Mozilla Firefox 0.8, Opera 7 for PC
• Without images - a text equivalent is displayed
• With Javascript turned off - it still works, the content is available and makes sense
• Without Cascading Style Sheets - it still works, the content is available and makes sense.

Your Feedback

I hope you will find this site useful and easy to access. However, I have not been able to test the site using a Mac or Web TV or using screen reading reading software. I may also have overlooked certain bugs or accessibility / usability features. I'm only human, after all. If you encounter any problems - please let me know so I can endeavour to put them right or if you have any suggestions for improvement, so I can consider incorporating them.