Accessibility
Accessibility
This site has been designed to be Accessible for people with any degree of visual or motor impairment and users of screen readers.
Increasing Page Text Size
You can increase the size of the text using your web browser options.
Increase Text Size using Internet Explorer
View - Text Size - Larger / Largest
Increase Text Size using Firefox
View - Text Size - Increase
Increase Text Size using Opera
Increase Text Size using Netscape
Increase Text Size using Safari
Apple Key and '+' Key
Changing Page Colours
You may also change the colours using your web browser options.
Changing Colours Using Internet Explorer
Click on Tools
Change coulours in Internet Explorer start with tools - options
Then click on the Accessibility button in the window that pops up
Then select the 'Ignore colors' option.
Note you could also select the 'Ignore font styles' and 'Ignore font size' options to alter the look and size of the text.
Changing Colours Using Firefox
Select Ignore Styles in Firerfox
Changing Colours Using Opera
View - Style - User Mode
Changing Colours Using Netscape
Tool - Options - then define your preference (this is of limited use)
Changing Colours Using Safari
Not Available
Switching off Styles
In addition to Accessible graphical pages, the website also provides a Low Graphics option that eliminates most or all imagery from a page. Listeners may also find it easier to hear object-heavy pages (e.g. lots of flash) as the low graphics involves repetitive phrases.
Access the low graphics version of this website using the 'Low Graphics' link shown on the page.
You can return to the graphical view using the High Graphics link.
Alternatively, you may choose to ignore the styles used by the designer using your browser's options.
Switching Off CSS Using Internet Explorer
Tools - Internet Options - General - Accessibility and then select three checkboxes (or supply your own stylesheet).
Switching Off CSS Using Firefox
View - Page Style - No Style
Switching Off CSS Using Opera
Use Ctrl-G
Switching off CSS Using Netscape
View - Page Style - No Style
Switching Off CSS Using Safari
Not possible - all you can do is append your stylesheet and this is an advanced topic
Links to External Sites
All links to external sites open in a new window and this site is not responsible for the content or accessibility of these referenced sites.
Problems Accessing Documents
If you have any problems accessing the documents published on this website, please contact us and we will supply you with the document in an accessible format.
Screen Reader Setting Recommendations
For users of JAWS we recommend the following sort order
title|text|alt|href
as the best configuration to set.
Useful Accessibility Links for PDFs, Browsers and Operating Systems
This site uses Portable Document Format (PDF) files.
To view PDF files, you will need to download and install a PDF reader.
The Adobe site offers:
- Free Acrobat Reader
- Adobe Accessibility Information
- Adobe/PDF Accessibility and other issues from the RNIB (Royal National Institute of the Blind)
Many web browsers have accessibility features, which help you use the web in the way that best suits you. We recommend you select the browser which best suits your needs, and these links give you some helpful guidance whether you want to best configure your web browser or download a more suitable one.
Note that there are many different web browsers available, and many versions of each of them, so it would be impractical for us to list them all here. We have chosen the most popular as a guide that you may find useful.
To configure your operating system to tailor its accessibility features to your needs, you can follow one or more of the links below
- Microsoft publishes detailed information on changing Windows
- Apple provides detailed information on configuring the Mac's operating system
- The BBC also provides details on changing your operating system
Validation of Accessibility
It attained level WAI 'AA' on 13th December 2006, and was evaluated using Bobby 5.00.6.3 and by subsequent manual checking.
This website was also validated as XHTML 1.0 Transitional compliant on 13th December 2006, using the W3C and Web Design Group validators, with CSS2 compliance.
Audio content and navigation for talking browsers and screen readers has been checked by listening to the site using JAWS. The site is also compatible with Supernova and IBM Home Page Reader when using Internet Explorer 5 or above.
All trivial images have null Alt text.