We understand the importance of web accessibility, and have designed and developed this website according to both recommended guidelines and best practice standards.
This website complies with W3C (World Wide Web Consortium) Web Content Accessibility Guidelines. Briefly explained, these guidelines are broken down into 14 checkpoints,
which are then sub-divided into three levels of priority. Priority 1, where all checkpoints must be satisfied. Priority 2, where all checkpoints should be satisfied.
Priority 3, where all checkpoints may be satisfied. The accessibility of any website is typically explained by it’s compliance to these checkpoints. Level ‘A’ means all
Priority 1 checkpoints have been satisfied. Level ‘AA’ means all Priority 2 checkpoints have been satisfied. Level ‘AAA’ means all Priority 3 checkpoints have been satisfied.
With this in mind, we have designed and developed this website to a minimum of level ‘A’ compliance and a vast majority of level ‘AA’ compliance. For full details of the W3C Web
Content Accessibility Guidelines, view the checklist here.
Access Keys
We have included the use of Access Keys to allow users to easily navigate this website using only a keyboard. We have used the recommended UK Government access keys standard where possible,
which is based on the widely adopted numbers system.
Access Keys for this website
- 0 - Accessibility (This Page)
- 1 - Home
- 2 - Our Work
- 3 - Sitemap
- 5 - What We Do
- 8 - Terms and Conditions
- 9 - Get In Touch
- S - Skip To Content
- J - Join Us
- P - Privacy Policy
How to Use Access Keys
PC’s
You need to hold down the ALT and SHIFT keys together, then press the relevant access key depending on where you wish to navigate to. You may find after following
these instructions, you also need to release all keys and press the ENTER key.
Mac’s
You need to hold down the CTRL key, and then press the relevant access key depending on where you wish to navigate to.
Text Language and Style
We have used plain language, which is easy to understand and avoids jargon. Any large sections of text have been broken into manageable chunks, eg. paragraphs,
to make them easier to comprehend. Text is presented at an easy to read size by default, and is spaced to maximise legibility. All links are clearly marked using
distinctive styles.
Resizing Text
We have designed and developed this website to allow control of text sizes, be it to increase or decrease the size, by your web browser.
Using the Internet Explorer web browser, click the ‘View’ option, then ‘Text Size’ and pick the setting that best suits you.
Using the Mozilla Firefox web browser, click the ‘View’ option, then ‘Text Size’ and pick the setting that best suits you.
Using the Safari web browser, click the ‘View’ option, then either the ‘Make Text Bigger’ or ‘Make Text Smaller’ options, to find the setting that best suits you.
For other web browsers, please consult the ‘Help’ sections for guidance. In most cases there will be a ‘View’ option to control text sizes.
Use of Images
We have ensured that all images on this website have alternative text elements, commonly referred to as alt text or alt tags. This allows text based browsers and
other accessibility technology including screen readers to clearly identify and describe what the image conveys to users.
So as not to overwhelm users, we have not applied alt text to superfluous or purely decorative imagery, but rather kept the alt text to only sensible elements on
a given page.
We have made an effort to ensure live text or accessible text technologies are used instead of graphics wherever possible on this website. This allows both more
control over text sizes by the user, and increases page download time allowing users quicker access to the website.
We have optimised all images across the website to ensure they download as quickly as possible, whilst retaining good visual quality.
Rich Media Content
This website makes use of a variety of rich media content, including video and animation. We have ensured all rich media elements have alternative static imagery,
accompanied by alternative text elements describing clearly what is being conveyed. In addition, all video elements on the website are accompanied by captions
explaining what is being depicted.
This website makes uses of sIFR rich accessible typography, which is a flash based technology enabling decorative typography which is fully accessible. To read
more about sIFR technology, please use this link.
Printing Pages
We have ensured that all key pages and elements on this website have a print option available. Clicking this option, in the form of a button or link, will print
out all the relevant information in a well formatted document. All buttons or links will clearly convey if clicking them prints out the entire page, or a
specific element.
Web Browser Compatibility
We have tested this website to ensure its full compatibility with the following specific web browsers on both PC and Mac platforms: Internet Explorer 6.0 and
above, Mozilla Firefox 2.0 and above, Safari 1.0 and above. We would expect full or close to full compliance with all other web browsers.
We’ve aimed to make this website accessible and comply with the W3C guidelines wherever possible. It’s been fully tested and we’re really happy with it, but we’d
love to know what you think! If you want to give us feedback on the site from an accessibility perspective, or any other perspective for that matter, please feel
free to get in touch.
Useful Links
Below are some links which we feel are really useful with regards to accessibility, guidelines and accessible technologies.
W3C Web Content Accessiblity Guidelines
http://www.w3.org/TR/WCAG10/
The Web Standards Project
http://www.webstandards.org/
UK Disability Discrimination Act (DDA)
http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/DisabledPeople/RightsAndObligations/DisabilityRights/DG_4001068
International Government Web Accessibility Guidelines
http://www.standards-schmandards.com/projects/government-guidelines/
Screen Reader Software
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_screen_readers
Speech Recognition Technology
http://www.dmoz.org/Computers/Speech_Technology/
SIFR - Accessible Text Flash Technology
http://wiki.novemberborn.net/sifr
http://www.mikeindustries.com/blog/sifr/
