What is an Accessible website?
A set of Web Content Accessibility Guidelines has been defined by the World Wide Web consortium, to ensure that access to the web is available to all users: those using a screenreader that speaks the text, a braille reader, those browsing without using a mouse, those with low vision or colour deficits, or those using a mainstream browser. The standards of compliance range from Level A (minimum) to Level AAA (full).
Tools are available to check websites against these guidelines. A commonly used tool is Bobby, from CAST, which provides a good initial check. However, there are many items, such as Java and scripts, that Bobby does not validate and manual inspection is necessary to ensure full compliance.
This site achieves WAI-AAA and Bobby Level 3 compliance (AAA equivalent).
Do I have to browse the site differently?
The site will display best using a style sheets-capable browser e.g. Netscape Navigator 4 or Internet Explorer 5, at a minimum resolution of 800 x 600. The site content will also be rendered correctly in text-based browsers, browsers that do not support sytle sheets and screenreaders.
You can enlarge or reduce the size of the screen fonts if you wish. In Internet Explorer, press Ctrl and mouse scroll wheel. In Netscape, press Ctrl and ] to enlarge the font size, or Ctrl and [ to reduce.
There are some special features for screenreaders. The first item of each menu is a link, which allows the user to skip to the next menu, or to the page content. These links are hidden from graphical browsers.
Some additional punctuation had also been inserted to allow screenreaders to speak items with logical pauses.
Can I make some comments on the site?
This site was developed for QPPD by indepta. We specialise in site
audits, consulting on website accessibility and designing accessible
websites. Please send comments on this website to info@indepta.com.
.
.
.
.
