Website Accessibility Information
Introduction
We aim to comply with the World Wide Web Consortium's (W3C) current guidelines for accessibility; this is an ongoing process of re-evaluation and we are continually working to make our Web site more accessible for people with disabilities as technology, and standards, allow.
Accessibility standards
The World Wide Web Consortium's Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI) develops strategies, guidelines, and resources to help make the Web accessible to people with disabilities. Included in this initiative is the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG), which includes a series of checkpoints (referred to as Priorities) that may be used to review a web site's content for accessibility.
More information on these priorities can be found below:
- World Wide Web Consortium's Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI)
- Checklist of Checkpoints for Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 1.0
Access keys
Access keys are specifically defined keys that are assigned to hyperlinks or other elements (such as a search field) within a web page. In short, a hyperlink or form field for example may have a letter or number associated with it, which when used targets that link, removing the need to use a mouse to navigate, click or (for example) select a particular field.
The World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) currently advocate use of access keys through their Web Accessibility Initiative, as do the U.K Government. However, owing to potential conflicts with multiple pre-set shortcut keys in browser software, and the fact that much assistive software may also have its own methods of by-passing unwanted areas of page content, a decision has been made to omit the use of Access Keys from this Website for the time being. Comments on this are welcomed: should the majority of opinion from less-able users be in favour of the use of Access Keys for this site, then the situation will be re-assessed.
Images
All images have TITLE and/or ALT attributes associated with them. This means a short description will be provided when images are disabled (or are for other reasons unavailable), or alternatively a tool-tip (when hovered over with a mouse).
Links
We try to make sure that links are described logically (rather than 'click here') to make sense out of context. Where appropriate, links have been given TITLE attributes to help fully explain the purpose of the link concerned.
For those using screen readers, we have provided links that enable sections of each page to be skipped. Users can choose to jump to the main content. Please note, these 'skip links' will not be visible to those using a standard browser, except under certain circumstances (such as disabling stylesheets).
Portable Document Files (PDFs)
Much of our content is provided in the form of PDF files. In order to view these documents through your browser you will need Adobe's Acrobat Reader software; this free software can be installed automatically for you if it is not available on your system by going to the Adobe web site.
Adobe also provides some additional information on making information more accessible; this includes an online tool for converting PDFs to text. Two links are listed below:
- Adobe's Accessibility Resource Center
- Adobe's online pdf conversion tool
Adobe Flash Photo Galleries
This Website contains multiple instances of photo galleries that have been constructed using Adobe Flash and require installation of the Adobe Flash Player. Version 8 and above of Flash Player is required to view the galleries. A link to download or update the plugin is provided automatically should a user have an older version of the plugin, (or no plugin at all), installed.
For those that do not have the Flash Player plugin installed, do not wish to install the plugin, or are unable to use the plugin, a limited amount of alternative content has been provided, in the form of thumbnail images with both TITLE and ALT tags, and will be displayed in place of the Flash photo gallery.
