Accessibility

To make our website easy to view, we have designed it in accordance with guidelines set out by the Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI).

Browsers

The website can be viewed across a wide range of browsers.

We recommend Microsoft Internet Explorer Version 6.0 and above or Firefox V1.5 or above to take full advantage of all our website’s facilities.

The site will also work with the Gecko based family of browsers including Mozilla and Netscape versions 6 – 7.

The site is optimised for a screen resolution of 1024 x 768.

Changing browser settings to suit you :-

Internet Explorer

Font size and colour
To ensure that website fonts and colours are optimised for accessibility:

On the ‘Tools’ menu, click ‘Internet Options’
On the ‘General’ tab, click on ‘Accessibility’
Click in each of the three boxes to show ticks
Click ‘OK’

Changing font

Text in a font such as Arial is easier to read than one such as Times New Roman. To change the text font:

On the ‘Tools’ menu, click ‘Internet Options’
On the ‘General’ tab, click ‘Fonts’
In the ‘Web page font’ and ‘Plain text font’ lists, choose the fonts you would like to use
Click ‘OK’

Enlarging text

On the ‘Tools’ menu, click ‘Internet Options’
On the ‘General’ tab, click ‘Accessibility’
Tick the ‘Ignore font sizes specified on web pages’ check box
Click ‘OK’
On the ‘View’ menu click ‘Text Size’
Choose the size of text

Changing font and background colours

As a result of the fonts, typefaces and background colours used in web page design, you may find some text difficult to read. You can however choose settings to suit you. A distinct contrast can be achieved using black text on a yellow background. To change the text and background colours:

On the ‘Tools’ menu, click ‘Internet Options’
On the ‘General’ tab, click ‘Colours’
Deselect the ‘Use Windows Colours’ tick box
Select the box next to ‘Text’ and choose a colour
Click ‘OK’
Select the box next to ‘Background’ and choose a colour
Click ‘OK’

To prevent graphics from appearing on web pages:

On the ‘Tools’ menu, click ‘Internet Options’
On the ‘Advanced’ tab, scroll down to the ‘Multimedia’ heading
Click on the graphics options (‘animations’, ‘videos’, ‘pictures’ and ‘images’) to remove the ticks
Click on ‘Apply’, and then click on ‘OK’
Should graphics still appear, select ‘View’ then ‘Refresh’ from the toolbar, or press F5.

To change the size of the window:

Click ‘View’ then ‘Full Screen’ from the toolbar, or press F11

There are other options to tailor web pages that help make them easier to read. These may be found under the ‘Tools’ menu

Click on ‘Internet Options’
Select the ‘Advanced’ tab
Choose from the options available to improve visibility

For Firefox

Using a Keyboard

A list of common keyboard shortcuts is available in Keyboard shortcuts – Perform common Firefox tasks quickly.

Using a keyboard to navigate within webpages

Always use the cursor keys to navigate within webpages allows you to move through web content as if you were inside a read-only editor. You can use the keyboard to select web content and copy it to the clipboard.

You can press F7 at any time to turn this feature on or off. When you press F7, Firefox will ask if you really want to turn on this feature. You can disable this prompt by selecting Do not show this dialog again.

Search for text when I start typing

Search for text when I start typing allows you to quickly navigate to text or hyperlinks in a web page. This feature has two modes. Press / and start typing to search all text on the current page, or press ‘ before your string to search hyperlinks only. Firefox will highlight matching text or hyperlinks as you type.

The following keyboard shortcuts control this feature:

• Type more characters to narrow your search. Firefox will highlight the next matching hyperlink or text or alert you that nothing matched.
• Press Ctrl+G or F3 to find the next occurrence of your current search string.
• Press Ctrl+Shift+G or Shift+F3 to find the previous occurrence of your current search string.
• Press Backspace to undo the last character you typed. Firefox will back up to the previously highlighted text.
• Press Esc to cancel a search. You can also cancel a search by changing focus, or simply waiting for the timeout.

If this option is checked, you can start typing at any time to auto-start an inline search. By default auto-started searches look for all text on the page. You can still explicitly press ‘ or / to start finding in one mode or the other.

You can use this feature to get to buttons, text boxes and other form controls. Search for the text immediately before the form control you want and press Tab. Pressing Tab automatically exits the search and sets focus to the next form field or button after the highlighted text.

HTML Access Keys

On some web pages, keyboard shortcuts are assigned to different elements on the page. To move the cursor directly to one of these elements, press Shift+Alt+AccessKey.

Mouse Shortcuts

A list of common mouse shortcuts is available in Use mouse shortcuts to perform common tasks in Firefox.

Zoom, Fonts and Colors

Page Zoom

You can zoom in and out of web pages including images with the following keyboard shortcuts:

• Press Ctrl++ to display the web page one size larger.
• Press Ctrl+- to display the web page one size smaller.
• Press Ctrl+0 (zero) to display the web page at its normal size.

For other ways to zoom in and out a web page, see Font size and zoom – increase the size of web pages.

Text Zoom

You can choose to change the text size only using the Text Zoom feature:

1. Press the Alt key to temporarily bring up the traditional Firefox menus. At the top of the Firefox window, click the View menu, then go to Zoom.
2. Select Zoom Text Only, which will make the controls only apply to text, not images.

The following keyboard shortcuts control text size when Text Zoom is selected:

• Press Ctrl++ to increase the text size.
• Press Ctrl+- to decrease the text size.
• Press Ctrl+0 (zero) to reset the text size to the web page’s default size.

Note that some web pages may display incorrectly if you increase or decrease the text size.

For other ways to zoom in and out text of a web page, see Font size and zoom – increase the size of web pages.

Setting Fonts and Colors

See Change the fonts and colors websites use for detailed instructions on choosing your preferred font styles and colors.

Setting a Minimum Font Size

Some websites may display text which is too small to read comfortably. To make such pages easier to read, you can set a minimum font size. On web pages that try to display text smaller than this size, Firefox will enlarge the text to your chosen size.

To set a minimum font size, open the Options window, select the Content panel, and click the Advanced… button in the Fonts & Colors section. You can specify a minimum font size from the dropdown menu.

Note that some web pages may display incorrectly depending on your choice of a minimum font size.

Overriding Page Fonts

Some websites may display text in fonts that are difficult to read, and other sites may rely on the browser’s default fonts. You can set your default fonts by opening the Options window, selecting the Content panel, and selecting a default font and size in the Fonts & Colors section.

You can specify default fonts for different styles, including serif, sans-serif, and monospace by clicking the Advanced… button. However, many web pages specify their own fonts, so your choices will have no effect on such pages. To override the fonts defined by such pages, uncheck the Allow pages to choose their own fonts, instead of my selections above option.

Note that some web pages may display incorrectly depending on your choice of a default font.

Overriding Page Colors

Some websites may display text and background colors that are difficult to read, and other sites may rely on the browser’s default colors. You can set your default colors by opening the Options window, selecting the Content panel, and clicking the Colors… button in the Fonts & Colors section. You can set default text and background colors, as well as default colors for visited and unvisited hyperlinks. You can also specify whether hyperlinks should be underlined.

However, many web pages set their own colors, so your choices will have no effect. To override the colors defined by web pages, uncheck the Allow pages to choose their own colors, instead of my selections above option.

Using a High Contrast Theme

Firefox automatically detects if you are using a High Contrast theme and displays everything in your high contrast color scheme. This overrides all other other browser or web page settings, and it affects the Firefox interface itself (all menus, windows, and dialog boxes) and the content of any web page you visit.