Using our website
We have tried to design our website to make it as accessible as possible whilst remaining visually interesting and easy to use.
Images and alt tags
We have avoided using excessive graphics within the website where possible in an effort to maximise quick download times and access to information which cannot be read if in image format.
Where images are used we have added 'Alt' tags - text alternatives so that you will still know what the image is meant to convey even if it doesn't load or if you have chosen to browse with the images switched off or you are using an assistive technology like a screen reader to browse the web page rather than view.
Resizable text
We have been careful to make sure that we haven't fixed the size of the textual information on the website so that visitors who wish to can alter the font size on the screen to make it easier to read.
There are a number of ways to change the text size in your browser, the easiest way is to follow the following steps:
Internet Explorer
- Select the 'View' menu
- Select the 'Text Size' option from the menu
- Click on the text size you want to view
Chrome
- Hold down the ctrl key and press the + key
Firefox
- Select the 'View' menu
- Select Zoom
- Click on Zoom text only and then hold down the ctrl key and press the + key
It is also possible to increase or decrease the size of the text by holding down the ctrl key whilst using the scroll wheel on the mouse.
Coding standards and Double-A conformance
This website is built using code compliant with World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) standards for XHTML and Cascading Style Sheets. W3C is the governing authority on web development standards and practices.
The site displays with current browsers, and using standard code should mean that any future browsers will also display this website correctly.
We are continuously improving this website to ensure that pages conform to the Single-AA level of the W3C Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 1.0.
The Accessibility Guidelines explain how to make web content accessible to people with disabilities. Conformance to these Guidelines helps to make the web more accessible to users with disabilities and benefits all users.
There may be a few pages and some third party and external applications that do not conform to all the guidelines. Whilst every effort is made to ensure the whole site conforms, with many web contributors and third party suppliers, this is an ongoing process.