Accessibility tool
Overall, internet browser support for these different aspects of accessibility is not that great, and can be confusing to use as there are so many ways to do one thing. These tools will allow you to change your accessibility preferences easily, and whatever style you choose will remain until you select a different style.
Accessibility
Every effort has been made to make this site accessible to all. It is not only good practice for websites to be accessible to disabled people, but it is a requirement under the Disability Discrimination Act 1995. Features that are present to make this site accessible are listed below.
Jump to: Text sizing | Text Contrast | Access keys | Tabbing
Text size
To make it easier for people with different visual abilities, this site is completely scalable. None of the text in the site has a fixed size, which means that it can be changed very easily from your browser menu. This will work in all browsers and below is guidance on how to change the text size of the site:
| Browser | How to change the text size |
|---|---|
| Internet explorer 5/5.5/6 | Use the menu and click on then select which text size you require.
The available options are . You can also hold down and use the mouse scroller if you have one. Alternatively, you can access the text size menu by pressing , pressing the letter , and then . From here just select the required text size. |
| Internet Explorer 7 | It is possible in IE7 to show or hide the main menu, so there are two ways to do this.
|
| Mozilla Firefox | On a PC - Just hold down the key, and either use or
keys to increase or decrease the text size, or use the mouse scroller. Alternatively you can press , press the
letter , and then . From here just you can increase or decrease the text size. You can also access the text size menu by pressing , pressing the letter , and then . From here just select the required text size. On a Mac - Just hold down the key and use the or keys to adjust text size. |
| Safari | Just hold down the key and use the or keys to adjust text size. |
| Netscape Navigator | Just hold down the key, and use or
keys to increase or decrease the text size. Alternatively you can access by pressing , pressing the letter , and then . From here just you can increase or decrease the text size. |
| Opera | There isn't really a text size option, rather a zoom option. To zoom in on the page by 10% at a time, use the and keys. |
| AOL browser | AOL uses the latest version of browser that is installed on your computer, and is set in AOL's preferences. It is not that straight forward or fast to use AOL's method of changing text size so i would suggest the following:
|
Text Contrast
Best efforts have been made to make this website very easy to read, but to help out if you need a higher contrast between text and background I have provided alternate styles that be applied to the site.
High Contrast
A high contrast style sheet can be found by accessing the style menu on the following browsers (Internet Explorer does not have a menu for
changing to an alternate style sheet). To activate the alternate style from each browser, follow the guide below:
| Browser | How to use the alternate style |
|---|---|
| Firefox | , then select the style called High Contrast. |
| Netscape | , then select the style called High Contrast. |
| Opera | , then select the style called High Contrast. |
To make it a lot easier to apply a style you want, I have included a website customisation tool on the site. Go to customising tools at the top of the page
Access keys
The main areas of this site are accessible by the use of access keys. Listed below are the access keys you can use to go straight to one part of the site. The access keys are indicated by the underlined letter in each menu item. To use access keys it varies in different browsers.
| Page of site | Access key |
|---|---|
| Home | h |
| website design | n |
| website re-design | r |
| website review | w |
| contact | c |
| accessibility | a |
| site map | m |
| green websites | e |
For Internet Explorer on Windows, hold down the key and press the relevant
access key. To go to the page, you must press enter.
In Firefox on Windows, hold and press the access key.
In Netscape just hold the key and press the relevant
access key.
For Opera users, hold then press the access key.
On Safari on a Mac, hold the key and press the relevant access
key. On a Mac, usually the key is used instead of the key.
Tabbing
To make the website easier to use for people who cannot, or prefer not to use the mouse, a tabbing order has been set which will help with the selection of links on a page.
