Accessibility - options and features
Last revision: 17th October 2004
Here are the details of the accessible design features used on this site.
Access keys
Most browsers support jumping to specific links by typing keys defined on the web site. On Windows, you can press ALT + an access key, then enter; on Macintosh, you can press Control + an access key, then enter.
| Access key | Action Taken |
|---|---|
| 1 | Returns to the Home page |
| 2 | Shortcut to the services I provide page |
| 3 | Goes to the webSemantics site-map |
| 4 | Skips to the site search at the top of each page |
| 8 | Goes to the copyright statement page |
| 9 | Shortcut to the contact details page (email, feedback form, post or phone) |
| 0 | Goes to the accessibility options and statement (This page) |
| C | Skip straight to the pages content area. |
Browser text-size adjustments
The text on this web site has been designed to allow you to use browser controls to resize it to whatever size works best for you.
- Firefox (Windows & Mac):
- The control and the plus key together increases the font size. Control minus decreases the font size.
- Internet Explorer (Windows):
- From the menu bar select View > Text Size, and choose a suitable text size.
- Netscape and Mozilla (Windows):
- From the menu bar select View > Text Zoom, and choose a suitable text size.
- Opera (Windows):
- From the menu bar select View > Zoom, and choose a suitable page magnification.
- Safari (Mac):
- From the menu bar select View > Make Text Bigger, and increase to a suitable text size.
- Internet Explorer (Mac):
- From the menu bar select View > Text Size, and choose a suitable text size.
- Netscape & Mozilla (Mac):
- From the menu bar select View > Text Zoom, and choose a suitable text size.
- Opera (Mac) users:
- From the menu bar select View > Zoom, and choose a suitable page magnification.
The site is viewable up to 200% with little degradation. For text sizes above 200% I suggest switching the style sheet.
Navigation aids
- All pages on this site include a search box (access key 4). The search facility is provided by Google. Consequentially the search results page is outside the control of this site.
- Link text is never duplicated; two links with the same link text always point to the same address.
- There are no JavaScript pseudo-links. All links can be followed in any browser, even if scripting is turned off.
- There are no links that open new windows without warning.
- Every text link on this site has an underline:
- Unvisited links are blue with a solid lighter blue underline. Example Unvisited
- Visited links are dark purple. They have a dashed or broken underline in a lighter purple. Example Visited
- Focused and active links have a dashed underline in primary red. The link text is also red. Example Focus or Active
- Hovered links bright purple with a solid underline in the same colour. Example Hover
- Acronyms, glossary and help have a solid underline in green, the cursor also changes to a question mark. Example: W3C
- Web objects such as inputs, text areas, buttons and image links have a red border upon focus. Example:
- Image links have no underline but the border changes colour as outlined above.
- Many links have title attributes which describe the link in greater detail, unless the text of the link already fully describes the target (such as the headline of an article).
- Links are written to make sense out of context.
Design criteria
Visual design
- This site uses cascading style sheets for visual layout.
- This site uses only relative font sizes, compatible with the user-specified "text size" option in visual browsers. The page design will hold to 200% magnification above which I would suggest switching the style sheet off.
- If your browser or browsing device does not support style sheets, the content of each page is still readable and navigable.
- With style sheets switched off you are presented with an almost text-only version of the page.
Images
- All content images used in this site include descriptive alt attributes.
- Images used purely for decoration are coded as background images through CSS and therefore do not appear in the XHTML mark-up at all.
Acronyms and abbreviations
Due to its technical nature, this site makes use of many acronyms and abbreviations. I try to define each instance with the appropriate XHTML tag. Acronyms have a solid underline in green, the cursor also changes to a question mark.
JavaScript usage
This site uses JavaScript in order to improve functionality and usability:
- All JavaScript functions and calls are held in separate files.
- The site is fully usable and navigable with JavaScript off.
- Specifically JavaScript is used for:
- Providing highlighted borders to focused form elements.
- Opening and closing right hand panels.
Standards compliance
- All pages on this site are Bobby AA approved, complying with the Bobby guidelines. This is always a judgment call; many accessibility features can be measured, but many can not. I have reviewed all the guidelines and believe that all these pages are in full compliance.
- All pages on this site is WCAG AA approved, complying with all priority 1 and 2 guidelines and most of priority 3 of the W3C Web Content Accessibility Guidelines. Again, a judgment call; many guidelines are intentionally vague and can not be tested automatically. I have reviewed all the guidelines and believe that these pages are in full compliance with one exception. The need for an advanced search mechanism. Due to the relatively small size of this site I do not believe it to increase the sites accessibility or usability.
- All pages on this site are Section 508 approved, complying with the U.S. Federal Government Section 508 Guidelines. Again, a judgment call.
- All pages on this site validate as XHTML 1.0 Strict. This is not a judgment call; a program can determine with 100% accuracy whether a page is valid XHTML. For example, check this page for XHTML validity.
- All pages on this site use structured semantic markup. The first heading (h1) is the company name and tag line the second the content title (default centre column) and subsequent headings h2 to h6 are used in the correct order for sub-headings.
