Accessibility

The pages of this website are tested on a regular basis and hold W3C Double A standards.

Introduction

We have endeavoured to remove barriers to this website so that disabled people can access information and use the website as easily as possible, with all the functionality that should be expected by us all. We have designed:

• 'Skip over repeated elements' such as navigation menus
• Put text equivalents for graphics
• Designed the website so that it can be read in the correct order by assistive technologies, such as screen reader software
• Put accessible equivalents for functions such as 'email a friend'
• Made links descriptive and make sense
• Ensured that there is sufficient colour contrast between the text and background and that colour alone is not used to convey information
• This site has been designed with style sheets to allow maximum flexibility
• Header tags and tables summaries have been effectively added to this site to help clarity of the website

As well as other techniques to assist accessibility.

Text Size

If you'd prefer the font size to be larger or smaller, then you can easily alter this using your browser.

To increase or decrease the text size, follow these simple instructions for Internet Explorer:

• Click on the 'View' menu in your browser
• Click on the 'Text size' option
• Select the size you would like to see

To increase or decrease the text size, follow these simple instructions for Netscape Navigator:

• Click on the 'View' menu in your browser
• Click on the 'Increase Font' option

Site Map

A text based site map has been provided to assist users to get an overall impression of the site quickly.

External Links

All external links will load in a new window. This applies to all PDF, powerpoint and word documents.

To Email a friend

Use the email your friend link using your email client eg. Microsoft Outlook.

The subject header will be completed with 'Useful Information From Friend About Learner Support' and the content of the email starting with 'Please look at the Learner Support Website, I think you may find it useful, http://www.learnersupport.org, info@learnersupport.org, 0845 4565857'.

You complete any more before you send it.

Skip Links

If you are using an audio browser (screen reader software):

• Skip Logo: to skip over the logo and to go directly to the navigation menu
• Skip Navigation: If you don't wish to have the navigation read out to you on any page, we have included a 'skip navigation' link as one of the first entries on the page. If you select this link you will be taken straight to the main content area.

PDF Documents

A number of documents available for viewing are in Adobe® Acrobat® Portable Document Format (PDF).

PDF format is used to preserve the content and layout of our publications. Publications in PDF can only be viewed and printed using the Adobe Acrobat Reader™. You can download and get help using the Acrobat Reader at the Adobe Systems, Inc. site. The downloadable Acrobat Reader software is available at no charge from Adobe.

http://www.adobe.com/products/acrobat/alternate.html (opens in new window)

People using screen-reading devices generally are unable to read documents directly in PDF format, until they have an accessibility plug-in installed on their system along with the Adobe Acrobat Reader. This plug-in is available at no charge from Adobe and your screen reader may do this automatically. Adobe also has online tools that will convert PDF files to HTML on request. To get the plug-in and latest news about Adobe's accessibility tools and services, visit the Access Adobe site (opens in new window).

PowerPoint and Word Files

You can view publications in Microsoft Word® (.doc) format if you have Word, version 97 or higher, installed on your computer. Word documents can also be viewed with many other word processing software programs. Additionally, Microsoft offers a FREE Word file viewer (opens in new window)that you can download at its Microsoft Viewers site.

You can view our online publications that are in Microsoft PowerPoint® (.ppt) format if you have any version of PowerPoint installed on your computer. For those who don't have the software, the Microsoft Corporation offers a FREE PowerPoint file viewer (opens in new window). You can download and get help using the PowerPoint viewer at the Microsoft Viewers site.

International Standards we have met

• This website conforms to W3C's "Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 1.0", available at http://www.w3.org/TR/1999/WAI-WEBCONTENT-19990505 (opens in a new window), level Double-A. Conformance to these Guidelines helps make the website more accessible to users with disabilities and will benefit all users.
• On-line testing validation to Conformance Level "Double-A" of web pages: all Priority 1 and 2 checkpoints are satisfied
• That the web page complies to international standards of HTML (the programming language behind the web)
• That the web page meets Cascading Style sheet standards (the language that should be used for the presentation (styling) of a website
• That the web page complies to international standards of Extensible HTML (programming language)
• That the web page is viewed accurately on a text only Browser - we use Lynx

The website has been thoroughly tested:

• To ensure compliance to international standards, thereby guaranteeing that different browsers will render the web page as intended and that assistive technology (which is designed considering these standards) works well
• With a text only browser (Lynx)
• With Webxact (Watchfire) / Bobby (a program) to test the validity to accessibility (WAI) standards of web pages http://webxact.watchfire.com/ (opens in new window)
• For colour contrast by printing in black and white and checking how readable the site is
• Screen reader software
• Different screen resolutions
• Different platforms - MAC and PC
• Different Browsers - Internet Explorer 5, 5.5, 6 and Netscape Navigator 6, 7
• Without images - a text equivalent is displayed
• With Javascript turned off - it still works, the content is available and makes sense
• Without Cascading Style Sheets - it still works, the content is available and makes sense

Changing colours

Changing the site's background colour can be particularly useful for users who rely on magnification technology as white can produce an uncomfortable glare. It is also possible to change the colour of body text on the site. Both can be achieved by changing preferences in your browser:

If you use Microsoft Internet Explorer, go to the Tools menu, select Internet Options, select Accessibility, and put a tick in the box next to "Ignore colors specified on web pages", then select OK. Now go to Colors, select Colors and make changes to text and background colours in the Colors panel.

If you use Netscape Navigator, go to the Edit menu, select Preferences, open the Appearance menu and select Colors. You can set the colour of text and background from here.

If you use Opera, go to the File menu select Preferences, open the 'page style' (under fonts and colours). Ensure 'user mode' options use own settings (default settings). Now go into fonts and colours and you can change the colour options. Select 'View' then select 'Style' then select 'user mode'.

Your Feedback

We hope you will find this site useful and easy to access. If you encounter any problems - please let us know so we can endeaveour to put it right or if you have any suggestions for improvement, so we can consider incorporating them.

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