Accessibility
This website has been designed to be accessible by all. We have achieved this by complying to the World Wide Web Consortiums guidelines and validating our pages with WebXACT to ensure compliance.
By using a program called Browse Aloud this website will become speech enabled. Any visitors with reading difficulties will simply be able to position the mouse over an area of the web page, which in turn will be spoken out. This program can be downloaded from the Browse Aloud website.
Access Keys
Access keys are a set of keyboard shortcuts that help users who have difficulty using a mouse, or other pointing devices navigate through web page's.
Access Key List
| Access Key | Target |
|---|---|
| S | Skip Navigation |
| 0 | Accessibility Information (this page) |
| 1 | Home Page |
| 2 | Page Menu |
| 3 | Site Map |
| 4 | Search |
How to use Access keys
- In Microsoft Internet Explorer 4 press "Alt" and then the relevant letter at the same time
- In Microsoft Internet Explorer 5 or 6 press "Alt" and the relevant letter, then press the "Enter" key
- In Netscape version 6 or later, or Mozilla, press "Alt" and the relevant letter at the same time
- With Macintosh-based systems, press the "Ctrl" key and the relevant letter at the same time.
Changing Text Sizes
Internet Explorer
To increase or decrease the text size in Internet Explorer you need to select "View" from the menu bar. The next step is to select "Text size" and then select the option from the menu you require.
Shortcut Keys:
- Largest ("Alt + v" then "x" then "g")
- Larger ("Alt + v" then "x" then "l")
- Medium ("Alt + v" then "x" then "m")
- Smaller ("Alt + v" then "x" then "s")
- Smallest ("Alt + v" then "x" then "a")
Netscape
To increase or decrease the text size in Netscape you need to select "View" from the menu bar. The next step is to select "Text Zoom" and then select the option you require.
Shortcut Keys:
- Increase text size = "Ctrl" + "+"
- Decrease text size = "Ctrl" + "-"
- Original text size = "Ctrl" + "0"
Changing Colours
Internet Explorer
To change the colour of the text in Internet Explorer you need to:
- Select "Tools" and then "Internet Options" from the menu bar.
- Select the "Accessibility" button in the bottom right of the screen from the resulting dialogue box.
- Select "Ignore colours specified on Web pages" on the new dialogue box and click on the "OK" button to return to the original dialogue box.
- Select the "Colours" button in the bottom left hand corner.
- Select the colours you wish to use to represent the text on the webpage's and click "OK" when completed.
- Select "OK" on the original dialogue box.
- To change the colours back simply repeat steps 1 to 3 making sure you unselect the "Ignore colours specified on Web page's".
Netscape Navigator
To change the text colours in Netscape Navigator you need to:
- Select "Edit" and then "Preferences" from the menu bar.
- From the resulting dialogue expand the "Appearance" category by clicking on it.
- Select "Colours" from the expanded "Appearance" category.
- Select the "Use my chosen colours, ignoring the colours and background image specified".
- Select the colours you wish to represent the text on the webpage's.
- Click on the "OK" button.
- To change the colours back to the original repeat steps 1 to 3 and then select "Always use the colours and background specified by the web page".
Accessibility Software
- JAWS, a screen reader for Windows. A time-limited, downloadable demo is available.
- Home Page Reader, a screen reader for Windows. A downloadable demo is available.
- Lynx, a free text-only web browser for blind users with refreshable Braille displays.
- Links, a free text-only web browser for visual users with low bandwidth.
- Opera, a visual browser with many accessibility-related features, including text zooming, user style sheets, image toggle. A free downloadable version is available. Compatible with Windows, Macintosh, Linux, and several other operating systems.
Page updated: 30th January 2008
