Accessibility

This website has been built with accessibility in mind, so we hope you find it meets your needs and that you can find the information you are looking for.

Most of the information on these pages applies to Windows operating systems and the Microsoft Internet Explorer and Mozilla Firefox browsers. For information on other operating systems or browsers or for further advice on website accessibility, please visit the BBC's My Web My Way website.

 

Help with seeing our website

Help with hearing our website

Help with navigating our website

Help with accessing PDF documents on our website 
 

Help with seeing our website

You can change the settings on your PC in order to see our website content better.

Accessible design

We have tried to use combinations of colours that provide sufficient contrast between foreground and background across the sites.

If you spot anything that gives you problems on this site please let us know.

Making text larger   Internet Explorer

• Go to the View menu using your mouse or by pressing Alt + V.
• Select the Text Size option using your mouse or by pressing X.
• Choose your preferred text size using your mouse or by using the up and down arrow keys and pressing Enter or by clicking on it.
  

Firefox

The following instructions will set the minimum font size on your computer’s system, so the size will apply to every site you visit.

• Go to Tools in your browser’s menu using your mouse or press Alt + T.
• Click on Options, or press O, to open the Options dialog box.
• Select General if not already selected or press the tab key until it is highlighted (in blue) and then press Enter.
• Click on Fonts & Colors, or press F, to open the Fonts and Colors dialog box (see example below).
• Click on Minimum font size box or press Alt + Z. Use the cursor keys (up and down arrows) to select a new font size and press Enter.
• Click on the Always use my: Fonts checkbox, or tab to it and then press the spacebar.
• Click the OK button or press Enter.
• Click the OK button or tab to the OK button and press Enter.

For more information on help with seeing websites including using screen magnifying software, making your mouse pointer easier to see and using your own style sheets amongst other useful tips, go to the BBC My Web My Way website.

If you have any feedback you would like to share with us about seeing the content of our websites contact us, we would like to hear from you.

 

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Using a screen reader
If you are using a screen reader, we hope you will benefit from our use of meaningful headings, link text and alternative text to navigate our websites. We have also tried to make tables and PDF documents as accessible as possible. If you do come across a PDF document you cannot access, we provide links on every document cover to the Adobe online PDF to text conversion tool as well as a link to download Adobe PDF Reader, which is free and can be used to access PDF files. A link to each is also provided below:

Download Adobe Reader

Adobe online PDF to text conversion tool

For more information on help with hearing websites including using screen reading software amongst other assistive technologies, go to the BBC My Web My Way website.

If you have any feedback you would like to share with us about hearing the content of our websites contact us, we would like to hear from you.

 

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Help with navigating our website

Using your keyboard to navigate our websites

Access keys
We have used standard Government access keys on our website in order to allow you to navigate as directly as possible to your desired location using your keyboard. The list of access keys we use is as follows:

• 1 - Home page
• 3 - Site map
• 4 - Search
• 7 - Complaints procedure
• 8 - Terms and conditions
• 9 - Contact us
• 0 - Accessibility
• Z - A to Z Index
• I - Freedom of Information
  

Windows-based systems
To activate access keys on Windows-based systems press Alt at the same time as the access key number or letter e.g. Alt + 1 to go to the home page.

Macintosh-based systems
To activate access keys on Macintosh-based systems press Ctrl at the same time as the access key number or letter e.g. Ctrl + 1 to go to the home page.

Firefox 2
If you use Firefox 2, you will need to press shift and Alt at the same time as the access key number or letter e.g. shift + Alt + 1 to go to the home page.

Using the tab key to navigate our websites
If you use the keyboard tab key or a switch-operated device to navigate websites, you may find our jump links useful. On each page you will reach the content first (with the exception of the home page), but the first link you come to will take you to the main navigation if you choose to follow it. There is also a jump link to the main navigation at the end of the content of each page.

For more information on help with navigating websites using your keyboard, go to the BBC My Web My Way website

Using your mouse to navigate our websites
For more information on using your mouse to navigate websites such as adjusting the speed of your mouse, making it left-handed and making your mouse pointer larger, go to the BBC My Web My Way website. The BBC site also covers alternatives to the mouse and keyboard.

If you have any feedback you would like to share with us about navigating our websites contact us , we would like to hear from you.

 

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Help with accessing PDF documents on our website

What is Adobe Reader?
Adobe Reader is a software program that is available to download for free from the Adobe website and allows you to read and print Portable Document Format (PDF) files.

Download Adobe Reader

Using a screen reader to access PDF documents
If you are a screen reader user, we endeavour to make PDF files on our site accessible to screen readers but as yet cannot guarantee that all content of every PDF online is accessible. As an alternative we provide a link to Adobe’s online PDF conversion tool. Please see the following paragraph for further information.

What is the Adobe PDF conversion tool?
The Adobe conversion tool will provide a conversion to HTML 3.2 or text file format. Adobe will convert the document immediately if you upload the file via the form provided on their website or you can send it to them via email attachment.

If you prefer to use your screen reader with a browser you could have the document converted to either HTML or text file format. If you wish to use your screen reader with word processing software such as Microsoft Word or Notepad you will need a text version of the document.

For further information on Adobe products and accessibility go to the Adobe accessibility section.

If you have any feedback you would like to share with us about PDF documents on our websites contact us, we would like to hear from you.

 

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