Accessibility
This page describes some of the steps we've taken to make this site accessible to, and usable by, as many people as possible. It describes:
- The industry and government standards we adhere to
- Our support for 'Access keys'
- How you can alter the size of the site's text
Standards
We believe this site adheres to the accessibility guidelines documented by the W3C as described in its document "Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 1.0" to double-A standard. We have also implemented much, if not all, of the triple A standard. We are aware of just one exception. We require you to have Javascript enabled. The site will not work as intended, otherwise.
Adherence to the W3C standard means that we have taken steps to ensure the site is accessible to as many people as possible including those who are: sight, hearing or otherwise physically impaired.
It also means we can use automated tools to verify that each page conforms to a strict standard. That helps minimises the possibility of errors or problems while you are using it.
We believe this site also adheres to the standards set out in the e-Government universal accessibility handbook which, itself, makes considerable reference to the W3C standards.
We are keen to ensure this site is useful to as many people as possible. If you do encounter a problem please let us know.
Access keys
The e-Government universal accessibility handbook sets out the UK Government standard for 'Access Keys'. These are keyboard shortcuts designed to help people with limited physical capabilities to find their way around our site more easily. Click here or use Access Key 0 to see how we use Access Keys.
Text sizing
You can easily alter the size of the text in The Knowledge to make it more readable. You probably have at least three ways to do that:
- If you have a mouse with a scroll wheel, press and hold down your keyboard's Ctrl key and rock the scroll wheel backwards and forwards. Most browsers will change the text size for you.
- Most browsers give you an option to change text size from their toolbar. In Internet Explorer 6 or Firefox, for example, you can click 'View' and 'Text Size' to see options to change text size. In Internet Explorer 7, click 'Page' and 'Text size'
- Internet Explorer 7 allows you to zoom entire pages - not just the text. Click the 'magnify' icon at the bottom right of the page to change zoom levels or click 'Page' and 'Zoom' for finer control.