Accessibility

Web Standards

  1. All pages on this site should follow Priorities 1 & 2 guidelines of the W3C Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 1.0
  2. All pages on this site should validate as HTML 5.
  3. All pages on this site should use structured semantic markup.

Structural Markup

Web pages on this site should include 4 different areas:

  1. A header bar
  2. A navigation menu
  3. A main content area,
  4. A footer.

Some pages may also include a secondary navigation menu.

When CSS (Cascading Styles Sheet) are not applied to a document (or when using a screen reader), the 4 areas should be read in the above order.

Access Keys

Pre-defined access (shortcut) keys often clash with keys set aside for use with other software – including software that allows users with particular needs to browse the Web.

This site does not define access keys so that any potential clashes with other software are avoided.

Images

  1. Unless they are purely decorative items, all images used on this web site should have suitable text alternatives.
  2. Content should be usable/accessible with images ‘off’ (disabled).

Links

  1. Links should be written to make sense out of context.
  2. The first link in every web page should be a “Skip Site Menu”. This can be used to jump directly to what is considered the main section of the page (the content).
  3. URLs should be permanent whenever possible.

Forms

  1. All form controls should be associated with appropriate and explicit labels.
  2. Email addresses should be provided on the site as an alternative form of access for online forms.
  3. Form validation routines should not rely on client-side scripting.

Scripts

  1. Content of this web site should be usable without JavaScript support.

Pop up Windows

  1. No new windows should not be spawned without warning the user first as part of the link text

Visual design

  1. This site should use cascading style sheets for visual layout.
  2. This site should use only relative font sizes, compatible with the user-specified “text size” option in visual browsers.
  3. If your browser or browsing device does not support stylesheets at all, the content of each page should still be readable.
  4. Any information conveyed through the use of color should also be available without color (i.e. text based).