Most browsers support jumping to specific links by typing keys defined on the web site. We follow the UK government standard which is:

s - skip to content
1 - Jump to home page
3 - Jump to site map
7 - Jump to Contact us
8 - Jump to legal information
0 - Jump to access key defaults (this page).

To use the access keys in Internet Explorer, hold Alt and press the shortcut key, then press Enter. In Firefox, hold Alt and Shift and press the shortcut key. On a Macintosh, press Control + an access key.

A hidden menu has been placed at the beginning of each page to allow screen reader users to link to the main areas of the page.

A hidden link has also been provided at the beginning of each page to provide easy access to information on accessibility.

HTML heading tags are used to convey document structure. H1 tags are used for main titles, h2 tags for subtitles etc.

Navigation menus are marked up as HTML lists. This ensures that the number of links in the list is read out at the start and it can be skipped easily.

All images have alternative text for screenreaders, browsers which don't display images or browsers set not to display images.

Accessibility keys have been included to aid accessibility (see above). We have indicated when a link opens a new browser window.

We have made sure that there is enough contrast between background colour and wording to make the site easy to read.

If you wish to override the site's colours, you can do this by changing your browser settings to your own preference.

Most of the font sizes we use on our site are sizable. You can change the font size to make it either larger or smaller via your browser settings.

You can change the font size in the following ways depending on your browser:

• In Internet Explorer; select View, then Text Size, and then your preferred size.
• In Firefox; select View, then Text Size, and then increase or decrease to your preferred size.

This site uses cascading style sheets for all visual layout. If your browser or browsing device does not support stylesheets at all, the use of structured semantic mark up ensures that the content of each page is still readable and clearly structured.

You can apply your own stylesheet onto this website by:

Internet Explorer
select Tools, then Internet Options, then Accessibility, next click on any or all 3 checkboxes to ignore colours, font styles or font sizes, in the same window you can change your style sheet by clicking the checkbox that says, "format document using my style sheet" then browse to your style sheet and click OK.

In Firefox
select Tools, then Options and then select General, where you can specify your own colours and fonts.

There are also some handy tools which you can purchase or download for free, these include:

JAWS

a screen reader for use with Windows

Lynx

a free text-only web browser for blind users with refreshable Braille displays

Links

a free text-only web browser for visual users with low bandwidth