Accessibility

Accessibility and Usability

The new website (as of March 2009) is designed to be W3C compliant and to enable the technology that assists users with disabilities, including screen-readers and the use of access keys to access areas of the site, to be effectively utilised.

Tab Key

It is common for browsers (e.g. Mozilla Firefox and Internet Explorer) to enable navigation of a site via the use of the keyboard TAB key. Once the required button is highlighted this way, just press the Enter/Return key to select the page.

Colours

We have taken guidance on the colour schemes to enhance readability. If, however, you do have problems, please contact us using the form at the bottom of this page.

A high-contrast version of the site can be accessed using the relevant button in the top right hand corner of the screen.

Large Text

The text size can be changed using the "+" or "-" icons in the top right hand corner of the screen. The site is also enabled to work with the text size facilities in your local browser.

Images

Images are used in appropriate places and contain descriptive 'alt' attributes which can be read by screen-reading software.

Other Visual Elements

All elements (including the news ticker) are encoded using standard HTML to enable them to be picked up by screen reading software.

In the case of Java enabled items (e.g. drop-down menus), these will still be displayed as a full list should you not have access to Java.

Feedback and comments welcome

We aim for this website to be flexible and to continuously improve based on the feedback of members. Please get in touch using the feedback form below.