Accessibility Statement
We are committed to ensuring that our website, i.e. the pages and information presented on it in electronic format, are accessible to all its users (including users with disabilities) and regardless of the any particular tools used to browse the web.
The template(s) controlling the initial structure and presentation for this website’s Content Management System have been constructed with the aim of conforming to, at least the W3C Web Content Accessibility Guidelines priority level 2 (Double A). For more information about this standard and how we have tried to ensure accessibility please scroll down to the heading Accessibility Features and Considerations.
Screen Readers and Text Only Browsers
In order to benefit users of screen readers and text-only browsers this website has been designed so that it will degrade gracefully on browsers that do not support CSS. Tables have been avoided for layout purposes so that once “linearised” the content still makes sense. The content, where possible, has been placed before any large navigational items and skip links are provided the user a shortcut to the unique content for each page. Navigation has been created using text, not images and is a constructed via an HTML list. In the absence of JavaScript and/or CSS the navigation will still be accessible and functional.
Re-sizing Text
The text on this site is resizable. The majority, of the information on this site has been created using relative font size and as such can be adjusted to suit the individual needs of each user. These re-size controls are to the top of each page, however in the absence of JavaScript simply use the instructions for your browser below: -
- Internet Explorer 7+
Choose Page > View > Text Size - select your preferred text size.
Or to enlarge text with your keyboard, press Ctrl-Plus.
Or to reduce text with your keyboard use Ctrl-Minus. - Internet Explorer 5+
Choose View > Text Size - select your preferred text size. - Netscape Navigator 4+
Choose View > Increase Font or Decrease Font. - Netscape Navigator 6
Choose View > Text Size - select your preferred size. - Opera 5-6
Use the Zoom toolbar to increase or decrease the page enlargement factor. - Mozilla
Choose View > Text Zoom - select your preferred size. - Firefox
Choose View > Text Size > Increase/Decrease
Or to enlarge text with your keyboard, press Ctrl-Plus (Windows) or Cmd-Plus (Mac)
Or to reduce text with your keyboard use Ctrl-Minus (Windows) or Cmd-Minus (Mac) - Safari
Choose View > Make text bigger
Or with your keyboard, press Cmd-Plus to enlarge text, or Cmd-Minus to reduce it - Camino
Choose View - Bigger Text
Or with your keyboard, press Cmd-Plus to enlarge text, or Cmd-Minus to reduce it
Access Key Settings
In order to aid navigation around this site, the following keyboard Access Keys are enabled. Information on how to use these shortcuts can be found below:
1 - Homepage
2 - Page Content
3 - Return to top of page
4 - Site Search
5 - Main Navigation
6 - Footer
0 - Accessibility Features
How to Use Access Keys
Accesskeys are selected in different ways according to which browser you use:
- Internet Explorer 5+
Hold down the ALT key and select the number/letter of the access key, then press ENTER. - Internet Explorer 4
Hold down the ALT key and select the number/letter of the access key. - Internet Explorer 5+ for Mac
Hold down the CTRL key and select the number/letter of the access key. - Internet Explorer 4.5 for Mac
Access keys are not supported. - Netscape 6+
Hold down the ALT (CTRL for Macintosh) key and select the number/letter of the access key. - Netscape
Earlier versions do not support access keys. - Mozilla and variants (including Firefox and Camino)
Hold down the ALT (CTRL for Macintosh) key and select the number/letter of the access key. - Safari (Mac OS X)
Hold down the CTRL key and select the number/letter of the access key. - Omniweb (Mac OS X)
Hold down the CTRL key and select the number/letter of the access key. - Opera 7.5+
Press SHIFT+ESC, followed by the number/letter of the access key.
Accessibility Features and Considerations
Ever effort has been made to ensure that all pages meet the Double A standard, however the exact level of compliance may differ from page to page. Despite rigorous testing with automated systems we often find some issues are not flagged and these may be missed in our manual checks. Additionally, a Content Managed System means that the website pages are subject to change more frequently and thus would need to be reassessed.
The following list details some of the features of the site and accessibility considerations taken into account when designing this website.
Templates
The website templates were tested by Crimson Media during each stage of design and construction using Bobby (see Webexact). This test allows us to spot a variety of problems with pages before any manual checks are made. The templates are tested to ensure that the meet the W3C Web Content Accessibility Guidelines.
These automated tests are carried out by computer and are not always capable of interpreting the coding therefore where the tests presented warnings implying accessibility problems, manual checks were carried out to ensure that the errors and warnings raised by the tests were valid and then were fixed if necessary.
Cascading Style Sheets
The website layout is completely controlled by Cascading Style Sheet (CSS) and has been encoded using XHTML. By using this method of construction the layout of the page is separate from the content of the page; if you are using a browser which does not support CSS then you will be presented by a pure text version of the site with the content laid out in a logical order. This separation of content from layout enables the site to achieve a higher level of accessibility.
Links
Hyperlink (web link) text has been written to make sense when read out of context. This will aid users viewing the site using a screen reader. Duplicate link text has been avoided as has words which imply the use of a specific input device; i.e. click here assumes the visitor is using a mouse.
Care has also been taken to ensure that the user can differentiate between links and standard content text.
Where possible, the use of images as page links has been avoided. If there are any image links, effort has been put in to provide an equivalent text link.
Images
All content images used in this site include descriptive ALT attributes. Purely decorative graphics are either applied using CSS, or include empty ALT tag attributes. In some cases images have been used for headings. These images replace the text of the heading automatically using JavaScript. ALT text is automatically generated for these images however users without JavaScript, or those who have it disabled, will simply see the original heading in formatted text.
Font Sizes
A standards font size has been used throughout the website with variations for headings and other styles. If this is not sufficient for your individual needs may change the font size of this document, either via the size options found on each page or the preferences settings of your web browser.
Tip: most modern browsers allow resizing of text via the keyboard using CTRL and the PLUS (+) or MINUS (-) keys.
Colours
This site's font and background colour combinations have been checked against the different colour blindness conditions and ensured that all information is still clear, where the company’s corporate branding guidelines permits. Styles applied using colour are generally reinforced with good formatting too; e.g. titles are actually structured headings and are not simply colour text shown in a larger font size.
Additionally all styles are applied through CSS allowing styles to be disabled altogether to view the text without colour styles applied or to allow users to apply a customer style sheet of their own; i.e. ensuring that text does not render in an unreadable set of colours.
Navigation Shortcuts
In addition to Access Keys, use of the Tab key to navigate through the page has been ordered naturally to facilitate ease-of-use for those who rely on the keyboard for navigation.
Cross-Browser Issues
The layout and design of this site has taken different browsers into account with regards to the main web browser applications. The site has been previewed using both Internet Explorer (IE) and Mozilla/FireFox browsers with additional testing taking place on Home Page Reader for visually impaired web users.
If the layout had problematic elements between browsers, then the design was made to perform best on Internet Explorer (due to it's current status as the most popular web browser) and then worked on to display to near-perfect on the other browsers.
Accessibility References & Software
- W3 Accessibility Guidelines - Explains the reasons behind each guideline.
- W3 Accessibility Techniques - Explains how to implement each guideline.
- The Disability Discrimination Act 1995 (DDA)
- JAWS - A screen reader for Windows.
- Lynx - A free text-only web browser for blind users with refreshable Braille displays.
- Firefox - A standards-compliant, secure visual web-browser with many user-configurable accessibility-related features, including: text zooming; user stylesheets; image toggling. A free download is available for Windows, Macintosh, Linux and other operating systems.
