We aim to make this site as accessible and usable as possible for everyone. This includes people with sight problems, hearing, mobility and cognitive impairments, and as far as practical we have also tried to support users with slower connections, older browsers or newer technologies such as smartphones and tablets.
We have followed the WAI Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 2.0 (WCAG 2.0) meeting all of the Level A and the majority of Level AA checkpoints. A minor deviance from the guidelines is that we use alt text for the majority of images, but occasionally if an image is purely decorative we may not include alt text in order to reduce the 'noise' that someone using a screen reader has to listen to in order to get the important information on a page, this is in accordance with the Surf Right guidelines published by the RNIB.
As far as possible we have supported the following:
- You can change your configuration to suit your requirements (for example changing font sizes, background colours and turning off images).
- High contrast levels are used throughout to make copy easier to read.
- You can use the tab button to navigate the site.
- Content should be accessible by modern screen readers, braille readers and in-built screen magnifiers or speech packages.
Feedback
Please contact us if you encounter difficulties using this site. Your feedback is much appreciated and will help us to make ongoing improvements.
How to change your settings
The BBC publish excellent advice on how to customise your settings to meet your individual needs on a website called My Web My Way. You can find out how to: change text sizes and background colours; configure your mouse and keyboard; magnify your screen; use screen readers and much more.
Online Library resources
See our Accessibility guidance page for help with books and articles in the databases the Online Library subscribes to.