Accessibility

Our aim has been to design a simply and clearly laid out site which is easy to use for all our user groups.

This is balanced against our desire to provide cutting edge solutions on the web to those who want them. Our plan for this is an evolutionary one involving working with various users groups to address this issue in a continuous way.

Only with your help and feedback can we achieve this goal.
Some applications in this website will use non-accessibility friendly technologies such as JavaScript, Cookies or non optimised layouts.

Where possible alternatives have been provided and this is an area we are working hard to address over the coming development period. If you are having problems using or finding your way around the site, the following areas may help.

How to use the site

Accesskeys: Key areas or services provided by the site are available via the use of AccessKeys. These are available by pressing the ‘Alt’ key and the corresponding number for the link you want, followed by the return key. The links available are as follows:

  • Alt + 1: Go to the sitemap page
  • Alt + 2: Go to the home page
  • Alt + 3: Go to the contact us page
  • Alt + 0: Go to the accessibility page

Scrolling content: Depending on your machine and setting some pages will contain scrolling content. This unfortunately poses problems for some users. The arrow keys on your keyboard as well as the ‘up’ and ‘down’ arrow keys should help with scrolling. On these pages you will also find links taking you back to the top of the page.

How to print

At the present moment printing is only optimised for modern browsers. Users with compatible browsers will find pages are automatically formatted using the browsers in built print function (use print preview on this page to see what we mean). Users with older browsers should still be able to print pages and should contact the web team if they encounter any problems.

How to download content

Many different types of content will be made available through this website. This section will provide any information required for compatibility with these downloads.
PDF documents.To view these you will need Adobe Acrobat Reader. To download this for free from the Adobe website click the button below:

Get Acrobat Reader from the Adobe website

Controlling text and colours in your web browser

If you use the Internet Explorer or Mozilla (e.g. Firefox) browsers to view the Internet, the following guidelines will enable you to enlarge the size of the text on your screen. However, if you require even larger text, or use a text-only browser, or require more advanced changes like colours, please refer to the RNIB website: www.rnib.org.uk, which contains useful information on how to access the web using different technologies.

Microsoft Internet Explorer (PC):

  1. Open your Web Browser
  2. Select ‘View’ from the menu at the top of your window.
  3. From the options which appear, select ‘Text size’
  4. Select your desired text size

Microsoft Internet Explorer (Apple Mac)

  1. Open your Web Browser
  2. Select the ‘edit’ menu at the top of your window
  3. From the options menu which appears, select ‘preference’
  4. Click on ‘web content’
  5. Deselect the button marked ‘show style sheets’
  6. Return to the list of preferences
  7. Click on ‘web browser’
  8. Select ‘language/fonts’
  9. Select the font size you require

Firefox 1.5+ (PC):

  1. Open the View menu with the mouse or by press Alt and V at the same time.
  2. Select the Text Size option with the mouse or by pressing Z.
  3. Increase or decrease the text size with the mouse or by using the up and down arrow keys and pressing Enter .
  4. Alternatively you can press Ctrl and + to increase the text size, Ctrl and – to decrease the text size. Ctrl and 0 returns you to the default normal size.

Firefox 1.5+ (Apple Mac):

  1. Click on the View menu with the mouse.
  2. Hover your mouse over Text Size and choose a different text size from the listed options