Accessibility
This
website has been designed to be accessible for the widest possible audience regardless
of their ability. This includes making access as easy as possible for people with
disabilities who may have special needs.
Choose from the following:
How the website caters for people with a disability
People with disabilities, such as a visual impairment, may use assistive technologies
to use the Internet. Assistive technologies are products used by people with disabilities
to help accomplish tasks that they cannot do easily otherwise.
Assistive technology comes in many different forms, some of these include:
- text browsers (e.g. Lynx)
- screen readers
- speech synthesis (speech output)
- alternative keyboards or switches
- Braille
- screen magnifiers
- sound notification
- speech recognition
- voice browsers
This website has been built so that people using the technologies listed above can
access and use the information available.
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How to use the keyboard to navigate the website
Keyboard operation is required for users who are unable to use the mouse. For example,
users with limited hand use may not have the fine motor control required to position
the mouse pointer accurately on objects displayed on the screen. Blind users cannot
position the mouse pointer because they can't see the screen.
The keyboard provides a precise, discrete method of navigating and selecting. Mobility
impaired users using the keyboard can precisely navigate and select using the keyboard
or assistive technology that emulates the keyboard.
- Tab Index - the website has a tab index coded into each page to allow a
sensible order for the keyboard navigation. This starts in the main content section
and then moves through the navigation areas in the tab order.
- Tab Key - use the 'Tab' key to move forward through the tab index on the
page. To move backward hold 'Shift' and press the 'Tab' key. To activate a link
when selected press the 'Enter' key.
- Arrow / Cursor keys - for using radio buttons on a web page, select the
first one with the tab key and then use the cursor / arrow up and down keys to move
through the available radio buttons. To activate a link when selected press the
'Enter' key.
- Space Bar - for using checkboxes on a web page, select the required checkboxes
with the tab key and then use the 'space bar' to tick them. To activate a link when
selected press the 'Enter' key.
- Enter / Return key - To activate a link when selected press the 'Enter'
or 'Return' key.
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How to use access keys on the website
We have provided a series of keyboard shortcuts intended to help users who have
difficulty in using pointing devices such as a mouse. This web site uses the UK
Government access key system and the following information summarises each of the
keyboard shortcut commands available to you.
Depending on your browser type use one of the following:
With Windows-based systems, in general,
press the "Alt" key and the relevant access key:
- Microsoft Internet Explorer version 6 or later » press "Alt" and the relevant
number / letter, then press the "Enter" key
- Mozilla Firefox version 2 or later » press "Alt" + "Shift" and the relevant
number / letter at the same time
- Netscape version 8.0 or later » press "Alt" and the relevant number / letter
at the same time
- Opera 8.0 or later » hold down the Shift key and press Escape, release both
keys, then press the number of the accesskey
With
Macintosh-based systems, if you are using Safari, Camino or Mozilla Firefox press
the "Crtl" key and the relevant access key.
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How to change font size on your browser
If the text is too small to read you need to change your text size.
- Internet Explorer 7
select 'Text Size' from the Page menu and select the text size you want to use (default
is medium)
- Internet Explorer 6
select 'Text Size' from the View menu and select the text size you want to use (default
is medium)
- Firefox 2+
select 'Text Size' from the View menu and select either 'increase' or 'decrease'
(reset with 'normal')
Look for similar functions in other browsers.
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How the website complies with web accessibility standards
All of these pages have been validated for level A of the
W3C Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 1.0. As a result the pages
will comply with the Disability Discrimination Act which ensures that websites are
accessible to blind and disabled users.
This website conforms to the Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI) level A.
For a full list of the checkpoints that we have addressed to reach this standard
and make our web content accessible to people with disabilities, please see the
guidelines area of the WAI website.
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How the website complies with the Disability Discrimination Act, 1995 (DDA)
The Disability Discrimination Act, 1995 (DDA)
effectively places responsibility upon employers and suppliers of goods and services to provide reasonable adjustment
and, more importantly, to remove any barriers that could result in discrimination.
Since 1999 the DDA has covered public facing websites and internal systems even
giving examples in its Code of Practice such as: 'An airline company provides a
flight reservation and booking service to the public on its website. This is a provision
of a service and is subject to the Act'.
As this website has been developed with AA accessible code it effectively complies
to the Disability Discrimination Act.
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How the website is built to work on all browsers
This website is built using code compliant with World Wide Web Consortium (W3C)
standards for XHTML 1.0 and
CSS 2.0.
The pages display correctly with currently available Internet browsers such as Internet
Explorer, Mozilla Firefox and Safari on both Windows and Macintosh platforms.
The use of standard XHTML
and CSS 2.0 code means that future
versions of browsers will also display them correctly.
XHTML
stands for eXtensible Hyper Text Markup Language which is the language or coding
used to write web pages. It contains information about the pages structure, appearance
and contents.
Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) - CSS is a simple mechanism for adding style, for example fonts, colours and layout to web documents.
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How to print pages from this website
The website has a specific CSS 2.0
stylesheet for printing. This means when you choose File - Print/Print Preview
from your browsers menu the layout of the webpage will change to suit a printer.
This will remove most of the images, background colours, menus and unecessary clutter
from the screen so that the most important text areas of the page can be printed
clearly. Check that the scale menu is set to Shrink to Fit
so that none of the text is clipped by the page margins when printing.
If you wish to have an exact print of the website as it is displayed on screen please
press the PrtScn button on the keyboard. This creates a screenshot
of the website and places it in the computers clipboard memory. Then paste this
into a program like MS Paint or MS Word using Ctrl & V on the
keyboard.
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How to turn on Javascript in your browser
Many web pages need you to switch on (or 'enable')
Javascript. If you 'enable' Javascript in your browser, web designers can use additional
tricks to resize the page or add extra functionality. For example drop down menus,
buttons to make navigating websites easier and changing the cursor when you roll
over an icon are all tricks done by Javascript.
Windows
- Internet Explorer
- Go to the Tools menu in IE and choose Internet Options.
- Next click the Security tab.
- Make sure the Internet Zone is highlighted and press the Custom Level button to
open the security options.
- Look for the entry near the bottom of the list which says Scripting, then Active
Scripting and make sure it is enabled.
- Press OK to close the panels. Now reload the page which needs Javascript.
Mac
- Safari
- Go to the Safari menu or Edit menu and choose Preferences.
- Click the Security tab.
- You can check or uncheck Javascript here (Java settings are not for Javascript).
- Close the panel. Now reload the page which needs Javascript.
Firefox (Windows/Mac)
- Firefox users should go to the Tools menu and select Options.
- Next click Content.
- Check Enable Javascript (Java settings are not for Javascript) in the main panel,
for more settings press Advanced.
- Press OK to close the panel. Now reload the page which needs Javascript.
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