Accessibility
Accessible online services
We want our website to be as accessible as possible. To make our website easy to view, we've designed it in accordance with guidelines laid down by the Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI) and the Royal National Institute for the Blind (RNIB).
Taking time over design
We are always looking for ways to improve our website and make it easier to use, following principles laid down by the Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI) and the Royal National Institute for the Blind (RNIB). We also set our own guidelines.
We try to design our websites so it's easy for you to find the information you need. If you get stuck, you'll find help pages and contacts pages.
Even fully-sighted people can find reading text on a screen difficult or tiring, so we have chosen an easy-to-see web colour scheme and a clear font type, size and colour.
Our guidelines include:
- using meaningful ALT text for all images to provide descriptive text
- using descriptive hyperlink text
- avoiding the use of frames and tables, which are difficult for special browsers to interpret
- using an easy-to-see web colour scheme
- using an easier to read non-serif font type, size and colour.
However, making the website easy to use goes further than just colour and fonts. We are also working hard at making sure our site has useful content that is laid out in an easy-to-navigate way, taking into consideration people who use speech readers.
Change your computer settings
There are lots of changes you can make to your computer to make browsing the internet a better experience. If you want to alter the way you see, hear or use a website, you can change options in your internet browser.
The BBC and AbilityNet have developed a website called My Web My Way. It has comprehensive and up-to-date information on changing your browser settings for Windows, Mac and Linux users.
