Accessibility
We will make every effort for all pages on this site to conform to at least Level 1 standard of the W3C’s Web Content Accessibility Guidelines. We will continue to make improvements and make sure this website conforms to these guidelines. We are not responsible for the accessibility of any third-party websites which this site may link to.
With respect to the provision of services online we have implemented a number of features to make this website easy to use, especially for users with disabilities.
The following features improve navigation for text only browsers, screen reader users, and users of keyboard navigation.
Stylesheets
This site uses Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) for visual layout. If your browser supports it, style sheets can be disabled or over-ridden to customise the appearance of the website, to your preference.
Tabbing
We appreciate that not all people using our sites can use a mouse; we will ensure that all of our websites can be browsed in a logical manner using the Tab button. Pressing the ‘Tab’ key while on a web page will select the next link on the page. You can press ‘Tab’ repeatedly to get to the chosen link. The selected link is indicated by the dotted border around the link. Once your chosen link is selected, you can trigger it by pressing the ‘Enter’ key on your keyboard. You can move backwards through links by pressing ‘Shift’ + ‘Tab’ together.
Font Sizes
You can change the font size of each page to your preference through the browser.
- In Internet Explorer, select View, then Text Size, and then your preferred size.
- In Firefox press CTRL + to increase font size and CTRL – to decrease. CTRL 0 will reset sizes to default.
- In Safari, select View, then Text Size, and then your preferred size.
- In Opera, select View, then Text Size, and then your preferred size.
Forms
Labels are used to assist access to form fields. All forms follow a logical tab sequence.
Colours
The site has been designed to be easy to read through its colour combinations. If you have any difficulty in reading parts of the site, try increasing the font size, or try altering the visual appearance of your browser.
Links
We have worked hard to ensure that our links are meaningful, and some links are explained in greater detail by using a title attribute, visible when hovering over the link.
Scripting
JavaScript is used on the site to improve usability. All pages and processes are still accessible and usable if JavaScript is disabled or unavailable.
Flash may be used on the site to enhance the experience of the user. An effort will be made to make sure that if a user does not have the correct plug-in for Flash elements, it does not detract from the user accessing the core content of the website.
Standards
This website is built to HTML 5 and CSS 3.0 standards. To ensure code quality and that standards are maintained we are committed to checking this on a regular basis.
Browsers
This website will function and look as intended in browsers that support these standards. The most common of these are:
- Firefox, Internet Explorer (9+), Google Chrome and Opera on Windows
- Safari, Firefox and Google Chrome on Mac OS X
If you do not have one of these browsers installed or are unable to upgrade, you may find the website easier to use by disabling CSS altogether – please see your browser’s help documentation for further information.