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Accessibility features
Accessibility is a key feature of the English Subject Centre website. This means both
- providing good access to users such as those with disabilities who are using assistive technologies such as screenreaders
- as well as providing good access to as many different user agents as possible e.g. the increasing number of users accessing the internet through their pdas, mobile phones etc.
Some of the accessibility features of the site are listed below:
Text Size
The site is built using relative font sizes contained in an external style sheet, this means that the user can take adjust (or ‘zoom’) the text by using either a context menu or shortcut in the browser toolbar:
- In Internet Explorer, text-sizing is available in the View > Text Size menu. – It is also possible to adjust text size by pressing the the ‘ctrl’ tab with your left hand and the scroll wheel on your mouse with your right.
- In Mozilla/Netscape, through the View > Text Zoom menu.
Alt text
All non-decorative images utilise the alt attribute to provide descriptive text alternatives. You can access this text by placing the cursor over the image.
Titles on links
Where appropriate, descriptive title attributes have been added to links providing a fuller description of the destination page.
Text Only Version
Every page of the website is available in a text only version. This version of the website is accessible through the textlink on the top right of every page. You can toggle between the graphical and text version if you wish. All functionality remains the same, the only difference is that all decorative graphics have been removed. Users accessing the web on slow dial-up connections may find the text-only mode useful.
Forms
All forms available on the website have been designed with accessibility in mind. Forms contain tab keys to ensure completion in the correct order.
Javascript
Whilst the English Subject Centre’s primary horizontal site navigation menu is javascript driven an alternative text based navigation is available in the text-only version (accessible through the link on the top right of each page.
Pop-up windows
The site does not contain any pop-up windows.
Built to standards
The English Subject Centre website is built to W3C standards. All XHTML and CSS is valid, and the site aims to comply with the WAI level 2 accessibility standards. If you experience any technical difficulties with the site while you are online please let us know.
Browser Compatibility
The site has been thoroughly tested in all modern browsers that adhere to international web standards for web design on Windows, MacOS and Linux. It is also built to "degrade gracefully" in older browsers.
This means that whilst it may not look the same, all the information on the site will still be accessible. We are always looking to improve the site, so if you encounter any problems please use our Feedback page to let us know.
Ocassionally you may encounter difficulties with the formatting on some pages particularly if you are using very old browsers (e.g. vs4.X Netscape) and very high screen resolutions. The English Subject Centre would recommend that any old version of an internet browser (e.g. pre-2000) were upgraded to the later versions that take advantage of the latest security features.
