About This Site
Accessibility Statment
We are committed to ensuring that our website is accessible to everyone. If you have any questions or suggestions regarding the accessibility of this site, please use contact us, as we are continually striving to improve the experience for all of our visitors.
Standards Compliance
This site conforms to the World Wide Web (W3C) XHTML 1.0 Strict standards and uses Cascading Style Sheet Technology in accordance with to the W3C Cascading Style Sheets Level 1 & Level 2 standards.
All pages on this site use structured semantic markup. H1 tags are used for main titles, H1 tags for subtitles. For example, on this page, JAWS users can skip to the next section within the accessibility statement by pressing ALT+INSERT+2. Opera users can skip sections by using "S" and "W" to cycle forwards and backwards respectively through headings.
Structural Markup
Web pages on this site include 4 different areas:
- A header bar
- A "side bar" that includes the main site navigation
- A main content area
- A footer
When CSS (Cascading Styles Sheet) are not applied to a document (or when using a screen reader), the 4 areas are read in the above order.
Access Keys
Pre-defined access (shortcut) keys often clash with keys set aside for use with other software - including software that allows users with particular needs to browse the Web.
This site does not define access keys so that any potential clashes with other software are avoided.
Images
- Unless they are purely decorative items, all images used on this web site should have suitable text alternatives.
- Content should be usable/accessible with images 'off' (disabled).
Links
- Links should be written to make sense out of context.
- The first link in every web page should be a "Skip Site Menu". This can be used to jump directly to what is considered the main section of the page (the content).
Accessibility Resources
Further Information
The following links explain the many ways you can make the web more accessible to you.
Accessibility References
- Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 1.0, which explains the reasons behind this policy.
- Techniques for Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 1.0, which explains how to implement each guideline.
- Checklist of Checkpoints for Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 1.0 - a guide to accessible web development.
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 stylesheets, image toggle. A free downloadable version is available. Compatible with Windows, Macintosh, Linux, and several other operating systems.
Accessibility Services
- Bobby, a free service to analyze web pages for compliance to accessibility guidelines. A full-featured commercial version is also available.
- HTML Validator, a free service for checking that web pages conform to published HTML standards.
- Web Page Backward Compatibility Viewer, a tool for viewing your web pages without a variety of modern browser features.
- Lynx Viewer, a free service for viewing what your web pages would look like in Lynx.
Related Resources
- WebAIM, a non-profit organization dedicated to improving accessibility to online learning materials.
- Designing More Usable Web Sites, a large list of additional resources.
