Accessibility Declaration

This website has been written to conform with the level Double-A of the W3C Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 1.0, including all Priority 1 and Priority 2 checkpoints defined in the Guidelines. The Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 1.0 explain how to make Web content accessible to people with disabilities. Conformance to these Guidelines will help make the Web more accessible to users with disabilities and will benefit all users.

All images, for example, have alternative text tags. The site may be navigated by using Access Keys as set out in the table below:

Simply press the relevant key whilst holding down the ALT key, then press the Enter key on the keyboard. For example, to go to the Home page, simply press P followed by the Enter Key.

To use an Access key you press it simultaneously with one or two other keys. These other keys are dependent on the browser * and system in use. They are:

Windows

Firefox 1 & 1.5 Alt + [access key]
Firefox 2 † Shift + Alt + [access key]
Firefox 3 Shift + Alt + [access key] + Enter to activate the link
Safari 3 Accesskeys not supported
Google Chrome Accesskeys do not seem to be supported
Internet Explorer 4 & above Alt + [access key] (to focus the link) + Enter to activate the link
Mozilla Alt + [access key]
Netscape 6 & above Alt + [access key]
Opera 7 & above Shift + Esc & release, followed by [access key]

Mac OS X

Internet Explorer 5.2 Control + [access key]
Firefox 1 & 1.5 Control + [access key]
Mozilla Control + [access key]
Netscape 6 & above Control + [access key]
Opera 7 & above Shift + Esc & release, followed by [access key]
Safari/OmniWeb Control + [access key]

Linux (Ubuntu)

Firefox 1 & 1.5 Alt + [access key]
Firefox 2 Shift + Alt + [access key]
Firefox 3 Shift + Alt + [access key] + Enter to activate the link
Konqueror Control + [access key]
Galeon/Mozilla Alt + [access key]
Epiphany Alt + [access key]
Opera Shift + Esc & release, followed by [access key]

* Please note some of these browsers have not been personally tested, and some browsers may not support access keys. However, sites that use access keys are still accessible in all browsers by using the Tab key regardless of whether access keys are supported (with the exception of Safari 3 for Windows which does not support the tab key or access keys).

† Some early versions of Firefox 2 did not allow the use of numbered access keys as used on this and many other web sites. However, the most recent versions of Firefox 2 should work just fine using the key combination listed above. If you use an older version of Firefox, we encourage you to download the newest version of Firefox from Mozilla's official web site.

Text may be resized using the relevant option under your browser's "View" menu

Why Is Accessibility Important?

Most users will view a website through a web browser; common web browsers include Microsoft Internet Explorer, Mozilla Firefox, Apple Safari, Opera and Google Chrome. However, not all users to your site will view the pages they see in the same way, indeed blind, visually impaired or illiterate users may choose to use a screen reader software application which will attempt to interpret the on screen information and use text-to-speech, sound icons, or a braille output device to re-present the information back to them.

Therefore it is important to make sure that the underlying code oy your site is coded with semantically meaningful HTML. When sites are correctly built and maintained in this way, users of all abilities and disabilities can be accommodated whilst not impacting on the usability of the site.

The diagram below shows how websites can be delivered to the end user. By separating the document content (HTML) from the presentation (CSS and assistive technologies) we can ensure our websites are accessible to the widest possible audience.