ACCESSIBILITY

This site has been built in compliance with the W3Cs guidelines for accessibility, in order to make it accessible to as many users as possible. Several methods have been employed to maximise the site's accessibility:

W3C Standards Compliance

The code used on this site has been approved by the W3C validators for xhtml and CSS. The seperation of content from formatting makes access to information on the site easier for those using text-based browsers or browsers which cannot cope with the formatting used.

Text Formatting

The formatting of the text on this site has been specially chosen to provide an excellent level of contrast between the background and the foreground. This makes the text comfortable to read and reduces the risk of eye-strain.

The foreground and background colours used on this site have been tested to ensure that broswing the site will not be problematic for colourblind visitors.

Access Keys

To facilitate navigation of this site, particularly for text-based browsers, several access keys can be used to perform selected tasks.

Windows users: hold down the ALT key + the relevant access key (you may need to press Enter, depending on you system configuration).

Macintosh users: hold down the CTRL key + the relevant access key

• 1 - Move the cursor to the search box
• 2 - Select the first link on the main navigation bar
• 3 - Move the cursor to the login form
• 4 - Jump to the main content on the page (for text-based browsers)

Text Size

The text on this site is adjustable, meaning that viewers can resize the font size if it is not easily readable. The text can be resized using the buttons on the site or using the built-in functionality of your web browser.

Internet Explorer

• Select "View" from the browser toolbar
• Select "Text size" from the drop-down menu
• Select your preferred text size

Mozilla/Firefox/Netscape

• Select "View" from the browser toolbar
• Select "Text size" from the drop-down menu
• Select your preferred text size

Safari

• Select "View" from the browser toolbar
• Select "Make text bigger" or "Make text smaller" from the drop-down menu

Opera

• Select "View" from the browser toolbar
• Select "Zoom" from the drop-down menu
• Select your preferred text size

Keyboard Users

Anyone who prefers to use their keyboard to navigate their way around a website rather than their mouse will find that this site has been built with that in mind. All items on the page including Form Items have been built in a logical "Tab Order" to prevent confusion.