Accessibility Statement

We want www.nead.org.uk to be accessible to everyone, regardless of what device is used to browse it. We’re guided by feedback from our site’s visitors, and a commitment to improve the site’s accessibility wherever possible. So we encourage you to contact us with any suggestions that might help.

Text-resizing

Increasing or decreasing this site’s text size should be a simple matter, if you are using a browser that has the capability (and most have). Users of Internet Explorer, Mozilla browsers (for example, Firefox) and others, can resize this site’s text by following these instructions:

Enter your browser’s View menu (usually at the top of the screen).
From this menu, enter the Text Size menu.
Select your desired text size.

Many browsers — the Opera browser, for instance — allow you to increase or decrease the text size using the CTRL key (or the Command key for Apple Mac) in conjunction with the + and - keys.

Contrast & legibility

We have tried to ensure that both the contrast between the text and background colours, and the size and choice of fonts, result in an easily-read site for as many of our visitors as possible. However, any feedback about our site’s legibility is gratefully received.

Navigation aids

Access Keys

Access Keys are keyboard or keypad keys that have been defined as shortcuts to links on a website. When pressed in combination with the ALT key (Windows & Linux users) or the CTRL key (Mac users), a key defined as an Access Key allows you to either jump to its associated link on the page (say, a link to the home page), or to load that link directly.

We decided not to define any Access Keys on the NEAD site. On the face of it, Access Keys are a great idea. But unfortunately there are problems with them in practice: for example, there can be conflict when a website defines an Access Key that has already been defined for another purpose by your browser or Operating System.

Keyboard navigation

The Tab key can be used to move from link to link on each page. The tabbing order for the links on our pages is logical and usable, moving first down the main column and then down the side column of each page.

Headings

Users of screen readers and some other browsers can navigate around pages on our site by jumping from heading to heading. For most screen readers, press:

H to cycle forwards through the headings on a page
Shift & H to cycle backwards through the headings on a page
Insert & F6 to give a list of all the headings on a page.

Many screen readers provide further possibilities for navigation via headings.

The Opera browser has extensive support for keyboard navigation, that is highly customisable to your own preferences. To navigate headings with Opera, press:

S to cycle forwards through the headings on a page
W to cycle backwards through the headings on a page.

Skip-to link

Each of this website’s pages has a Skip-to link, that allows you to use your keyboard to jump straight to the main content area of our pages. This is most helpful to you if you use your keyboard to navigate, since it allows you to bypass the main navigation area of any given page, speeding-up your journey around that page.

Site Map

Our Site Map gives you an overview of the content of our website and a better idea about the way it is organised, to help you find your way around.

Links

Links don’t depend on JavaScript

You should be able to use all the links on our site, regardless of whether or not you use a JavaScript-enabled browser.

Link-text is meaningful

Wherever possible, link-text makes sense when read out of context. This means that we try to make the text used in links on our site descriptive, so that you have some idea of what to expect when you follow a link. Link-text that appears only to read Read more actually contains additional text that helps to give it meaning to screen readers and other aural browsing devices.

Link `title` descriptions give information about the link

Many links have title descriptions that provide more information about the link destination. They can be accessed by hovering the cursor over links, and can be read by screen readers.

Links to external websites

Links to external websites are visually distinguished in some browsers by the presence of a small arrow graphic following the link-text.

If you’re using a visually-based browser and cannot see the arrow in the following link to the Browse Happy website, then you might consider following that link to learn about the possibility of an upgrade to a modern web browser.

But links to external sites are also distinguished by their title descriptions (which users of older or less capable browsers should be able to access), beginning with the word Visit.

Links to files (for download) and our File-type Help page

Links to files such as PDF or Microsoft Word Doc files are made clear as such in their title descriptions (beginning, for example, with PDF file for PDF files). Supporting browsers will also display a relevant file-type icon graphic in the link following the link-text. Our File-type Help page explains these icons and the file types they represent.

In order to use certain file types, you may need an application or technology in addition to your regular browser. We suggest some such applications on our Help page (handy if you are having problems using a file to which we link).

No pop-ups

No link on our website will pop-up and open a new browser window when selected (unless we have explicitly stated in the link-text that it will do so).

Acronyms and abbreviations

We make use of acronyms, initialisms and other abbreviations throughout the site, largely as we refer to a range of organisations, initiatives and conventions that use abbreviated names (the acronym for our own organisation in particular).

Expansions of these abbreviations are accessible to screen readers and by (for example) hovering the cursor over a given abbreviation, to reveal the expanded name in a tooltip (hovering your cursor above the acronym NEAD should reveal our name in full: Norfolk Education and Action for Development).

There is also a Glossary of Abbreviations in which all (or almost all) of the abbreviations on our site are defined.

Help pages

We’ve provided Help pages to explain in more detail some aspects of our website, and the possible ways in which you can use it. They include:

explanation of the files available for download with suggestions for the applications you might require to use them
and other points on which you might require assistance.

We hope to enable you to get the most out of our site. If you have any unanswered questions, please get in touch with us.

Standards compliance

This site is built using valid XHTML 1.0 Strict and CSS, and makes use here and there of microformats. The fact that the site is built according to web standards increases the chances that it will render properly in a range of browsers. Nevertheless, the use of a modern browser is recommended.

Some free modern browsers

Firefox (for Windows, Mac, Linux, other OSs)
Opera (for Windows – all versions, Mac, Linux, other OSs)
Safari (for Mac only)
Camino (for Mac only)

These browsers are significantly modern, especially when compared with Microsoft’s Internet Explorer (version 6, that comes built-in to Windows XP). They are mature and stable programs that can be used safely as an alternative to Internet Explorer. Although a newer version of Internet Explorer is due to be released by at least 2007, unfortunately it will only be available for Windows XP SP 2 or newer.

Microformats

We make use of microformats throughout the site. They are embedded within the XHTML of some of our pages. Pages on which microformats are used in particular are indicated by the microformat button below:

Microformats are relatively new, but more and more browsing devices, email clients and other computer programs are making use of them. Forthcoming events listings on our News page, and the contact information on our Contact page, can be imported into your microformats-aware Calendar application (for example, Apple’s iCal, built into the Mac OS X OS) and the Address Book of your email client as vCards.

Disclaimer

Our website is updated by a variety of people, often giving freely of their time. Understandably, then, errors and discrepancies may occur, and the site’s accessibilty and usability may suffer as a result. We strive to follow our own accessibility guidelines and never publish knowingly web content that doesn’t accord with them. We are grateful for feedback concerning any mistakes or hinderances to accessibility you encounter here.

Let us know

NEAD is all about accessibility and inclusivity, and supports web standards and open-source technologies. Please do let us know about any problems you have with our website, and about any suggestions you can make for ways of improving it.

Thank you for your support.