We recognise the importance of providing a website that is accessible by all users.

As such we have made every effort to ensure that our site can be easily used by people with disabilities.

To ensure we are as accessible as possible we have made every effort to achieve a Conformance Level "A" of the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines. Most pages adhere to Conformance Level "A" . 

We have introduced the following features to ensure the best use of our site by all of our users.  

Navigation

A hidden menu has been placed at the beginning of each page to allow screen reader users to skip over the navigation and go direct to the main web site content.
In addition to this, we have set up a number of access keys for quick redirection to specific pages. These have been set up in accordance with the UK Government access keys standard:

1 - Home page
2 - Services
3 - News
4 - About Us
5 - Contact Us
 

Access Keys are now supported by most browsers:

Internet Explorer 5+ (PC) :: Hold down the ALT key, press the number of the access key, release both keys then press ENTER
Internet Explorer 4 (PC) :: Hold down the ALT key and press the number of the access key
Internet Explorer 5+ (Mac) :: Hold down the CTRL key and press the number of the access key
Internet Explorer 4.5 (Mac) :: Access keys are not supported
Netscape 6 and earlier (PC and Mac) :: Access keys are not supported
Netscape 7 (PC) :: Hold down the ALT key and press the number of the access key
Firefox, Mozilla (PC) :: Hold down the ALT key and press the number of the access key
Firefox, Mozilla (Mac) :: Hold down the CTRL key and press the number of the access key
Safari and Omniweb (Mac) :: Hold down the CTRL key and press the number of the access key
Opera :: Hold down the Shift key and press Escape, release both keys, then press the number of the access key

 Headings and navigation menus HTML heading tags are used to convey document structure. H1 tags are used for main titles, H2 tags for subtitles etc. Navigation menus are marked up as HTML lists. This ensures that the number of links in the list is read out at the start and it can be skipped easily. 

Images All images used in this site include descriptive alt tag attributes. Where an image has no use other than being decorative the alt tag is set to null to allow easy reading of the site by all users. Colours We have taken care to ensure that the site's font and background colour combinations contrast significantly and are effective in ensuring information is still clear when viewed in different colour combinations. If you wish to override the site's colours, you can do this by changing your browser settings to your own preference. 

Font size

Most of the font sizes we use on our site are sizable. You can change the font size to make it either larger or smaller via your browser settings. You can change the font size in the following ways depending on your browser; 

In Internet Explorer; select View, then Text Size, and then your preferred size.
In Netscape; select View, then Text Zoom, and then your preferred percentage size. 

Stylesheets

Internet Explorer; select Tools, then Internet Options, then Accessibility, next click on any or all 3 checkboxes to ignore colours, font styles or font sizes, in the same window you can change your style sheet by clicking the checkbox that says, 'format document using my style sheet' then browse to your style sheet and click OK

In Netscape; select Edit, then Preferences and then Appearance, you will be given the choice to specify your own colours and fonts.  

Tables

All data tables have properly scoped header cells, to allow screen readers to render them intelligently. We have also ensured table summaries are used as well as captions where appropriate. Tables used for layout use none of the above attributes to ensure that they are not confused with data tables. 

Forms and fields

All forms fields follow a logical tab sequence to ensure easy navigation. All form fields also have 'label' and 'id' attributes to explicitly associate the form field with its label to allow for easy entry of data. 

JavaScript

The use of Javascript has been kept to an absolute minimum. Where it is used then all pages and process are still accessible should Javascript be turned off. 

Links

All links have been written to make sense when taken out of context. Where appropriate, we have also added link title attributes to describe the link in greater detail.

Although every effort has been made to ensure the accessibility of this web site in accordance with the Disability Discrimination Act, we understand that certain inaccessibility may creep back into the content. We welcome any support from our users to help in identifying these problem areas for us to rectify.