Accessibility Features

 

The content on this website should be usable by the widest possible audience through the use of universal design, meaning that there is one page that is usable by all browsers and all users regardless of ability.

 

Changing the appearance of the screen

You can alter the accessibility of these pages by changing the on-screen appearance of the text and background. Below are some suggestions. Note that all are reversible and do not affect images.

 

Internet Explorer

 

To apply the font and colour changes below:

  1. on the View / Tools menu, select Internet Options
  2. on the General tab, select Accessibility
  3. make sure that each of the three formatting instruction boxes show ticks

 

Changing the font

Using a sans serif font (such as Arial), rather than a serif font (such as Times New Roman) can make text easier to read.

  1. on the View / Tools menu, select Internet Options
  2. on the General tab, select Fonts in the Proportional and Fixed-width font lists
  3. select the fonts you would like to use

 

Displaying text larger or smaller

You can increase or decrease text size from the text size option in the View menu.

Certain combinations of fonts, typefaces and background colours can sometimes make text difficult to read. You can change these settings by choosing your own colour scheme - black text on a yellow background gives the greatest degree of contrast.

  1. on the View / Tools menu, select Internet Options
  2. on the General tab, select Colors
  3. select the tick box labelled Use Windows Colors
  4. select Text, and select the colour you want. Select OK
  5. select Background, and select the colour you want to use. Select OK

 

To remove images

  1. on the View / Tools menu, select Internet Options
  2. on the Advanced tab, scroll down to Multimedia
  3. select Show pictures to remove the tick
  4. select Apply, and then select OK

 

To change the size of the window

  1. Select Full Screen on the toolbar

 

There are more options to make these pages easier to read, such as removing animation and expanding text.

 

To look at the other options:

  1. on the View / Tools menu, select Internet Options
  2. select the Advanced tab
  3. choose the options you would like

 

Mozilla Firefox

 

Displaying text larger or smaller

Select View and use the Text Size control to increase or decrease font size
or

  1. click on Tools and then Options
  2. select Font and Colours in the General section
  3. choose the font options that you want
  4. select on OK
  5. select OK to close the Options window

 

To change text and background colour

  1. click on Tools and then Options
  2. select Font and Colours in the General section
  3. select your preferred text style options
  4. select your preferred colour options from the Text and Background box
  5. deselect Use System Colours
  6. select on OK
  7. select OK to close the Options window

 

To set these colours as your browser default, click on Always use my Fonts and Colours.

 

To remove images

  1. click on Tools and then Options
  2. select Web Features
  3. deselect the Load Images option
  4. click on OK

If you have any problems changing your browser settings, use the Help menu in your browser toolbar.

 

Netscape Navigator 6.x

Changing the font

  1. select Appearance
  2. select Font
  3. change the Variable Width Font and the Fixed Width Font to the type you prefer. (To use these fonts for future occasions, select Use my default fonts.)

 

Displaying text larger or smaller

  1. you can increase or decrease text size from the text size option in the View menu

 

Changing the colour of the text and the background

  1. select Appearance
  2. select Colours
  3. select Text and choose the colour you would like to use
  4. select OK
  5. select Background and choose a colour
  6. select OK
  7. select OK to close Preferences

 

(To use these settings in future, select Always use my colours.)

 

To remove images

  1. select Edit
  2. select Preferences
  3. select Advanced
  4. remove the tick from the box marked Automatically load images
  5. select OK

If you have any problems changing these settings, select the Help menu on the browser toolbar. Also, if your browser has different options to the above, look at the Help menu for specific instructions.

 

Apple Safari

Displaying text larger or smaller

Select View and use Make Text Bigger control to increase font size. To reduce font size use Make Text Smaller.
Alternatively, hold down the Apple key with + to increase font size and - to reduce.