Accessibility

Bigger Text | Web Standards | Useability

Accessiblity is about making sure, as much as possible, that there is a "level playing field" for all web users to access the features of websites. In practice this usually means responding to the needs of users with a visual impairment or another condition which affects how they can use a computer. Accessibility has been a legal requirement for UK websites under the Disability Discrimination Act (DDA) Part 3 since October 1999.

A lot of effort has gone into making this website as accessible as possible (see Web Standards below). However this is a continuing process and we are always looking at ways to improve. We welcome comments on the accessibility of this site or its design in general - please use the feedback form.

Bigger Text

This site has been designed so you can increase the size of its text up to 150% to make it easier to read. How you do this depends on your browser but the 'Text Size' or 'Zoom' feature is usually listed under 'View' in the program's menubar. When selected, a submenu usually appears with options to increase or choose an exact text size.

Web Standards

This site has been developed to comply to web standards as much as possible. It uses valid HTML and CSS to help make sure its pages are organised logically and are easy to access. When first designed in 2003/04 this site achieved the top 'AAA' accessibility standard (now called 'Priority 3'). Changes since that time mean it doesn't quite conform to the same level. The site still meets most of the criteria for Priority 2 and 3 but only qualifies as Priority 1.

For an explanation of why this site has stopped using accesskeys see this article by Nomensa. For more information on designing to web standards see A List Apart, Saila.com and Max Design.

Useability

This site follows good practice as much as possible to make it easy to use. The layout draws on principles from areas such as information design, Human Computer Interface (HCI) design and semantics. For more information on these subjects see Use It.com.

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