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Accessibility on this Website
Whilst designing this web site we have attempted to make it open to the widest audience possible, including users with special needs.
Website Standards
We have used website code that is compliant to the W3C standards making this a clean, error free website that is compatible with assistive technologies.
All images on this website have been optimized so that they download faster. All images also have a meaningful text equivalent to aid visually impaired users or those who may be using a web browser that does not support images. Purely decorative graphics include null ALT attributes.
Links
Many links have title attributes which describe the link in greater detail, unless the text of the link already fully describes the target (such as the headline of an article).
We have tried to ensure links are written to make sense out of context. Many browsers (such as JAWS, Home Page Reader, Lynx, and Opera) can extract the list of links on a page and allow the user to browse the list, separately from the page.
Link text is never duplicated; two links with the same link text always point to the same address.
All links can be followed in any browser, even if scripting is turned off.
There are no links that open new windows without warning.
Visual design
This site and all its archives use cascading style sheets for visual layout with the exception of the Java based games and mapping tools.
Internet Explorer has a limited text resizing feature ("View" menu, "Text Size"), but it only works with relative font sizes. Relative font sizes are used throughout this site.
If your browser or browsing device does not support style sheets at all, the content of each page is still readable.
The site contains a number of Java games and puzzles that will not be accessible to screen readers as they are, by nature, visual items.
Acronyms and abbreviations
If used at all these are commented with descriptive tags
Javascript and Java
The collapsing menu is built with CSS and uses a small piece of javascript to control the expand and contract. If javascript is not available for any reason, the menu will automatically expand to it's full depth and all the links will be available to you.
There are several items in the site that require the use of Java. These are mainly drawing tools and do not provide information. Despite searches we have been unable to find a way to render these accessible to keyboard only users and they therefore require use of a mouse, trackball or other pointing device until a fully accessible alternative can be found.
Screenreaders
When using a screenreader it is always best to make the font as small as possible. This stops the text from wrapping which allows the screenreader to read it more easily.
Access keys
Despite all attempts to come up with a definitive set of Access keys to assist you with navigation, it has been impossible to find unique keys that will not interfere with the majority of browsers. Therefore, the guidance of the The Usability and Accessibility Working Group has been taken and Access keys have been removed
Tab keys
Keyboard users are catered for in that the Tab key will navigate to elements on the site. The expanding menu is usable by tabbing to the link and pressing enter. This will either take you to the page or, in the case of a parent item, will open the sub menu in order for you to tab to the item you require.
If you find you have any problems working with this site, please contact
us
