Accessibility
We take accessibility on the internet very seriously and have made every effort to ensure that our website is availabe to all viewers. Where ever possible we have followed accessibility guidelines published by the international web standards organisation (W3C).
Accessibility Toolbar
The accessibility toolbar can be found at the top of every page and has been included with the following functions to help you get the best out of our site.
Go to the Home Page
Decrease text size on page
Return to default text size
Increase text size on page to improve readability
Preview the page in print format
View the page in low graphics version
View the page in full graphics version
Email the page link to a friend
Help on accessibility for this site (this page)
Help on using and navigating this site
Screen Reaaders
If you are using a screen reader to access the pages you may find it beneficial to use the low graphics version as it contains specific features to aid your navigation. Use this link to switch to the low graphics version.
Access Keys
Access keys have been used on both the main (top) and sub (side) menus, they do not apply to the drop down menus. The main menu is numbered left to right ’1 - 9’ and each of the sub menus is lettered top to bottom ’a - v’, starting at ’a’ in each menu.
Additionally, the following access keys are available on every page:
- Home page link - ’0’
- Increase text size - ’.’
- Decrease text size - ’,’
- Toggle between graphics/low graphics versions - ’/’
- Return to top of page - ’w’
- Terms of Use - ’x’
- Privacy Policy - ’y’
- Accessibility Help - ’z’
These examples show the use of access keys on a windows PC:
To visit the top menu ’About Us’ use key combination, ’Alt + 2’ to change the page.
To then visit ’Staff’ on the side menu use the keys, ’Alt + b’ to change pages.
If you are using an Apple Macintosh computer simply use the ’control’ key instead of the ’Alt’ key, there is no need to press ’return’ at the end.
Acronyms & Abbreviations
Mordern language is full of acronyms and abbreviations, which are often used without considering the end user. This web site is no exception to the use of abbreviations, but we include an expanded text version when they are used for the first time on a page.
There are two reasons for this:
- Screen readers ’sound out’ words phonetically which often leads to nonsensical pronunciations of abbreviations and acronyms.
- By seeing the expanded text version the reader can better understand the content of a page.
Try this example, hold your mouse over ’ASAP’ the cursor will change and after a few seconds a box will appear giving the expanded text.
Validation
All the pages of this web site have been validated to the W3C ’XHTML’ standard to ensure that the code will work correctly on the majority of web browsers. In addition the style sheets and any RSS feeds have been W3C validated to ensure there are no errors that may effect viewing or operation.
The links below will open new browser windows.
Accessibility
This website has been checked against the W3C accessibility guidelines, with all pages conforming to level A or greater.
The link below will open in a new browser window.
Graphics
All the graphics included in the pages have been optimised for fast viewing and because the site is developed using CSS the page load time is minimised.
Browser Compatibility
These pages have been designed and developed to work with a wide range of web browsers on Windows and Macintosh computers - we recommend Internet Explorer 6 (Windows), Safari 1 (Macintosh) or Mozzilla Firefox 1.5 (for Windows or Macintosh) for the best viewing of the site. However, should you experience viewing problems please try the low graphics button as this will clean up any styling issues with older or redundant web browsers. The only exception to this being Netscape Navigator 4 (or earlier), as this has poor accessibility support.
Website Links
Throughout this site you will find that links to other web sites have been made available. It is our policy to always open these links in a new web browser window to ensure that you do not lose your place on our web site. Wherever possible these links have been marked with text informing the user of this.
E-mail Links
E-mail links within this web site will either take you directly into your e-mail application or to an on-line form which you can fill in.
