Accessibility

The ability of people to access this site is very important. It has been designed with a number of key issues in mind. Firstly, key text areas are viewable in larger sized print. Secondly, people using the site with a screen reader can move straight to the text and skip links. Thirdly, people who have difficulty using a mouse or other pointing device can tab through links or use an access key for the next page. Lastly, this site has been designed to meet international standards to make it accessible to a variety of equipment. Further information on all these points is given below.

Larger print

On this site you can choose normal, large or larger print at the top left of each page, but did you know that most screen-based browsers will allow users to select their own print size? This means that many web-sites can be viewed using a larger print size, and hence make them clearer, than was originally designed. Most people use Internet Explorer to browse the internet and so the guidance given is aimed at users of that software, but there are many other browsers available and similar instructions apply. In Internet Explorer, select "View" at the top left corner of the viewable window, run the pointer down the drop-down box and hover over "Text size". You will then see a selection of text sizes. Click on the one you want. This is illustrated in the picture to the right.

Move straight to the text

At the top left of the screen, when viewed, and therefore at the begining of the page, is a "Skip nav" link. Selecting this allows the user to go straight to the main body of the text. This is a boon to people using a screen reader who do not want to hear the navigation bar read to them each time they select a new page!

Selecting links

You can select links by using the "Tab" key on your keyboard. Just keep pressing it until you arrive at the link you want. Alternatively you can use an accesskey. Browse through the whole site by selecting a number on the keyboard from the choice to the right of this page. Press "Alt" and that number together, and possibly "Enter" (dependant upon browser) and you will go to the next page.

Standards

This site is designed to internationally developed standards supervised by the World Wide Web Consortium. You can access their site from the links on the right. You can also validate this page by clicking on the link below to check it is what we say!

Validate!

Access keys

Larger Print