Accessibility
The NWFED is committed to promoting equal access for all. This statement describes how our website meets the necessary accessibility standards, and also provides advice to visitors on how they can enhance their browsing experience.
Text enlargement
Visitors can use the text enlargement panel, located in top right-hand corner of each page, to adjust the font to a readable size. The site is structured to adjust naturally when this tool is used. This means that the site will not break-up and text will not spill over (boundaries), or overlap.
Alternatively, you can increase or decrease text size on your computer by following these instructions:
- PC – Internet Explorer: Click on View from the top bar menu and then select Text Size.
- Mac – Internet Explorer: Click on View at the top of screen and then select Text Zoom.
- PC & Mac – Mozilla Firefox: Click on View at the top of your browser window, then the Text Size. The font size can be changed by selecting one of the following: Increase or Decrease.
- Mac – Safari: By clicking on View at the top of the screen, then Text Size, two buttons will be added to your browser window, which both show a capital A. Click the larger A to make the text bigger or the smaller A to make the text smaller.
- PC & Mac – Netscape: Click on View and then select Text Size.
- PC & Mac – Opera: Click on the View button and then select Zoom option.
- PC – All browsers: To increase text size: Hold down the CTRL key and press + Decrease text size: Hold down the CTRL key and press –.
- Mac – All browsers: Increase text size: Hold down the Command key and press + Decrease text size: Hold down the Command key and press –.
Viewing in high contrast
Users can select the monochrome style sheet tool, located in the top right-had corner of every page to view information in black and white, and high contrast. By selecting this option, all hyperlinks default to the familiar and standard blue colour.
Browsers
The NWFED website can be accessed by people using a range of browsers. For optimum viewing, our recommendation is that visitors download the latest version of either Mozilla Firefox or Internet Explorer 7.
Navigation and design
Our site has a clear and ordered layout and was designed with intuitive navigation in mind to ensure that users locate what they need quickly and easily (within two clicks).
Every effort has been made to make sure that pages load up quickly, for example, images have been compressed to minimise loading times to make sure that the browsing experience is smooth. A site map can also be accessed to provide information about the layout of the website
Accessing documents
Documents on this website can be downloaded in either MS Word and/or PDF format. A free PDF reader is available from the Adobe website.
RSS
The RSS news feed is another way for the NWFED to engage with its audience. This service enables visitors to access the latest information from the website quickly and easily.
By clicking on the RSS logo on the website, users can subscribe to content for free. They will then receive regular updates to their computer, where content, which is made up of a list of titles and short summaries, can be accessed through the favorites panel.
You can then quickly look at the summaries and, at a glance, tell if you want to click through and visit the full version on the website.
Access keys
The access keys for the NWFED site are as follows:
- Accessibility = 0
- Home = 1
- Blog = 2
- Site Map = 3
- About = 4
- Links = 5
- Contact = 9
In the majority of browsers the access key is activated using Alt (on PC) and Ctrl
Using Access Keys on different Browsers:
- Opera: Shift + Esc + access key number
- Mozilla Firefox: Alt + Shift + access key number
- Internet Explorer Alt + access key number + Enter
Alt tags
All images on the NWFED site have been given alt tags. Alt tags are an alternative for non-visual browsers. They describe and explain the images that are absent in the page. In visual browsers, the alt tag appears when the user hovers over the image.
Further information
It is our priority to make it as easy as possible for users to access information from this website. Feedback from users is welcomed as this will help the NWFED improve and maintain the standards of the site.
Visitors can find out more about website accessibility from the ‘My Web My Way’ section of the BBC website.