Accessibility
This Accessibility page contains the following information:
- How to change the text size
- How to change the colour settings
- Using software to enable you to listen to the text
- Accessibility Statement
- Conformance
- Help us to improve our accessibility
- NHS website design guidelines
- Visual design
- General statement
Changing the Text Size
Listed below are methods of how to change the text size on the website you are viewing, in order to meet your needs.
You can view the step-by-step instructions on how to change the text size in Internet Explorer or how to change the text size in Firefox.
Changing the text size using Internet Explorer
1. Click on the View menu.
2. Select Text Size from the drop down menu.
3. Choose your preferred text size from the list provided.
Some websites may have fixed the size of their text so that when you select the text the changes will not be displayed. To use the text you require use the following steps:
1. Click on the Tools menu.
2. Select Internet Options from the drop down menu.
3. Click on the Accessibility button
4. You will be displayed with an Accessibility dialog box. Click the Ignore font sizes specified on web pages checkbox.
5. Click OK on the Accessibility dialog box and the Internet Options dialog box to return to Internet Explorer.
You should now be able to view your changes.
Note: If you cannot do this, it may be because your computer settings cannot be changed due to the settings on your computer being secure. This is common on business networks, or can happen accidentally or by mistake on home computers. If this is the case please contact your local computer support for further help.
Changing the text size using Firefox
1. Click on the View menu.
2. Select Text Size from the drop down menu.
3. Select Increase or decrease to change the size of the text.
Keyboard Shortcut
Ctrl and + increases the font size
Ctrl and - decreases the font size.
Ctrl and 0 returns to the default size.
Use the following steps to set a minimum text size for all the pages you visit:
1. Click on the Tools menu.
2. Select Options from the drop down menu.
3. Select the Content Tab.
4. Click the Advanced button next to Fonts & Colours.
5. The Fonts dialog box below will appear. Select the minimum font size you would like your text to appear.
6. Uncheck the Allow pages to choose their own fonts, instead of my selections above checkbox.
7. Click Ok on the Fonts dialog box and the Options dialog box.
Note: If you cannot do this, it may be because your computer settings cannot be changed due to these settings on your computer being turned off. This is common on business networks, and can happen by mistake on home computers. If this is the case please contact your local computer support for further help.
Changing the Colour Settings
This feature is designed for people with vision impairment. Changing the colour scheme can make the text more readable for people.
You can view step-by-step instructions on how to change the colour settings in Internet Explorer or how to change the colour settings in Firefox.
Changing the colour settings using Internet Explorer
1. Click on the Tools menu.
2. Select Internet Options from the drop down menu.
3. Click on the Accessibility button
4. Check the Ignore colours specified on Web pages checkbox.
5. Click Ok and you will return to the Internet Options dialog box.
It may look like little has changed, but the website is now using the colour scheme that you have on your computer. If you are happy with this colour scheme you can click the OK button to return to the browser.
But if you still require making changes to the text or background colours you can do so using the following steps:
1. With the Internet Options box still open click on the colours button.
2. The default setting is Use Window colours.
You will need to uncheck this checkbox to choose your own colours.
3. Select either the Text button or the Background button.
4. Select a colour of your choice.
5. Click Ok on the Colour dialog box, the Colours dialog box and the Internet Options dialog box. The colours should now be changed.
Note: If you cannot do this, it may be because your computer settings cannot be changed due to these settings on your computer being turned off. This is common on business networks, and can happen by mistake on home computers. If this is the case please contact your local computer support for further help.
Changing the colour settings using Firefox
1. Click on the Tools menu.
2. Select Options from the drop down menu.
3. Click the Colours button.
4. The Colours dialog box will appear. To use your Windows colour scheme in Firefox click on the Use system colours checkbox.
Alternatively if you want to set the text and background colours for Firefox you can do the following:
1. Make sure Use system colours is unchecked.
2. Select either the Text button or the Background button.
3. Select a colour of your choice.
4. Make sure Allow pages to choose their own colours, instead of my selections above is unchecked.
5. Click OK on the Colours dialog box and the Options dialog box and you will return to Firefox
6. Click on the Reload current page button on the Navigation toolbar to reload your page with your colour settings.
Note: If you cannot do this, it may be because your computer settings cannot be changed due to these settings on your computer being turned off. This is common on business networks, and can happen by mistake on home computers. If this is the case please contact your local computer support for further help.
Using software to enable you to listen to the text
There are a many different makes of text to speech software that allow any text selected by a keyboard or mouse to be spoken back in a range of voices. This feature is particularly useful for people with a vision impairment or literacy difficulty.
Accessibility Statement
By using techniques to help users of assistive and adaptive technologies, we have provided one version of the site which everyone should be able to use.
For assistance with other aspects of using this site, please see our website help page.
This site is intended to meet level 3 (AAA) of the W3C's Website Accessibility Initiative (WAI) Guidelines. For more information about the WAI Guidelines see the W3C's Web Content Accessibility Guidelines.
Through taking this approach we hope to make our site as inclusive as possible, and also to comply with UK legislation including the Disability Discrimination Act (1995) as amended by the Special Education Needs and Disability Act (2001), which states that it is an offence to discriminate against a disabled person by treating him or her less favourably than others for a reason relating to their disability.
Discrimination can also occur where an institution fails to make a 'reasonable adjustment' where the disabled person is placed at a 'substantial disadvantage' in comparison with someone who is not disabled and such failure cannot be 'justified'.
For further help visit the Equality & Human Rights Commission website|
Help us improve our accessibility
We are always aiming to improve the accessibility of our websites. If you have any difficulty accessing this site and require further help, or if you have any suggestions that would help improve our accessibility then please contact us: webteam@berkshire.nhs.uk
Alternatively, if you use assistive technologies to browse the web & would be willing to help us to test the accessibility of our sites then contact us on the address above.
NHS website design guidelines
Our sites aim to comply with the NHS website design guidelines. Standards Compliance.
All pages expressing compliance, are presented using style sheets, validated using the CSS validation service provided by the W3C.
These sites also contain valid HTML, which is also validated using the W3C validation tools.
All pages are device independent.
Visual Design
Compliant sites are laid out using Cascading Style Sheets (CSS).
Our style sheets are validated using the W3C CSS Validation Service.
If the style sheets are not used, or you choose to use your own, the content of each page is still readable. None of the content is dependent on colour alone. All images contain an alt attribute to provide a description of the image.
Link names are written so they make sense when read out of context.
General Statement
Our websites are also tested using Netscape, Mozilla and Opera browsers.
We also carryout checks on Apple Mac computer emulators. Many of our documents are published in Adobe 'PDF' format, in some cases 'text' versions are supplied as an alternative.
When possible Adobe 'PDF' files are made accessible using the built-in accessibility features of Adobe Acrobat.
All our sites are either compliant, or being redesigned to ensure compliance. If you have any questions or comments about this statement or the content on this site, please contact us at this email address: webteam@berkshire.nhs.uk|
