Accessibility Statement

Great Dawley Parish Council is committed to ensuring that this website is accessible to everyone. If you have any questions or suggestions regarding the accessibility of this site, please contact our email hidden; JavaScript is required

Text
Visual Elements
Website Navigation
Audio and Video
Scripts and Forms
Keeping up to Date
Other
Solutions to the Limitations of this website
Resources
Glossary and References
Web Standards and Accessibility Checks

Text

Semantics

The website has been coded with correct semantic structure to ensure text based, screen reader browsers and Braille devises can parse the content in the right order and use shortcut keys for the website.

Language

The language of the website (English-en) is provided in the header code of the website so that screen readers and Braille output know how to read it.

Writing for the Web

Editors for this website have been advised on the importance of using plain English to ensure everyone using the website can understand the content.

Text Size

All body text is set to a readable size and is in relative format so that it will re-size in the browser as the user wishes.

Sans Serif

Text on the website is in a web safe font and is sans serif which is easier to read on computer screens.

Layout is still stable if the font is re-sized.

Visual Elements

Cross Browser Compatibility

The website has been tested in all the major modern browsers (Opera, Safari, Firefox, Google Chrome, Internet Explorer 7/8) In Internet Explorer 6 it is still viewable but won’t look as nice as modern browsers because Internet Explorer 6 does not support the new styles and functionality.

Fixed Width

This website is designed for the most common screen resolution 1280 x 1024.

Images

Images have “alt tags” to tell text based browsers and screen readers what they are.

Colour Contrast and Blindness

Colours on the website have been chosen for high contrast and visibility with partially sighted people in mind. The Colour Contrast Analyser tool was used to help choose colours in the right ranges suggested by the W3C.

Website Navigation

Keyboard Navigation

It is possible to browse the website with the keyboard in screen readers and visual browsers.

For example with Opera it is possible to control nearly every aspect of the browser with the keyboard.

Top Menu and Sub-Pages

The top horizontal menu on the website is the same throughout to avoid confusion. On pages with sub pages the pages will be listed on the left hand side of the page. Sometimes they will be on the main page content as well for easy access.

Links

Links on the website are a bright blue colour.

All links provide a title description of the link for text browsers and screen readers.

Skip Navigation

You can skip to the main content of the website by clicking the “Skip to Content” link at the top of the site.

This going through all the menu items every time for screen readers and text browsers.

Access Keys

Based on current research access are not implemented on the website. There is no formal standardisation for access keys on all the Internet Browsers, and screen readers use there own shortcut keys which could conflict if they were implemented by us.

Page Titles

The page title for pages on the website will appear in the browser title bar to let you know which page you are on. This is also useful for bookmarking different pages.

Site Map

There is a full accessible site map listing all pages on the website. This is designed to reflect the hierarchy of the pages as well.

Opening Links in a New Window

Opening links in a new window is avoided because this can make navigation confusing for text and screen reader users.

Where links do open in a new window there will be some text saying: Opens in New Window.
Light box popups are used in the gallery to see the bigger picture if you click on it. Links to bigger pictures are still accessible with JavaScript disabled

Breadcrumbs

Breadcrumb navigation is provided on all pages to make it easier to navigate the website.

Search

We have a search facility if you are looking for something more specific.

Audio and Video

Podcasts and Video

Text transcripts for podcasts will ideally be provided for hard of hearing and deaf people.

Scripts and Forms

Forms

Forms will be kept simple and clear to use.

Fields are labelled so that you can navigate the form with the TAB key and use the RETURN key to submit information.
Where a field is required it will be indicated by a * and for visual browsers the label will be yellow.
If a field is optional it is white and does not have a *.
Forms do not depend on JavaScript to work.
Descriptive text will be provided in the fields to describe what to write. Just delete this text replace it with your own.

Keeping Up to Date

News Feeds RSS

RSS stands for Really Simple Syndication.

By subscribing to RSS feeds you receive news updates from the website as they are posted. You need a RSS reader in order to subscribe to them.

There is one for the general news of the site, one for the podcasts and one for the event calendar.

Other

Design

The website has been designed to be clear, functional and easy to use.

Speed

The website has been optimised to load as fast as possible. Some pages may be slower to load if they have a lot of text and images.

Valid XHTML Code to W3C standards

This website has been coded to W3C web standards: XHTML 1.0 Transitional.

Valid CSS

The main style sheet for this website uses valid CSS 2.1 and CSS3 code.

It also uses some CSS 3 which is not yet fully supported by the W3C validator tool or Internet explorer 6 but is supported by all the major modern browsers.

Printing Content

If you need to print content on the website, look for the “Print This Page” link at the bottom of the article. This will take you to a page which is specially designed to be printed.

404 Error Page

The site has a 404 Error page in case you stumble upon something that is not on the website either because it has been removed or moved somewhere else.

No broken Links

All Links are routinely tested every 5 days and any broken links will be removed. If you find any please notify the web master and we will fix it.

URLs

URLs on the site also work without “www” for your convenience.

Solutions to the Limitations of this Website

Flash and JavaScript Content

The presentation of content and functionality of this website is not dependent on JavaScript and Flash and it is used in moderation.

The site has been tested with JavaScript disabled.

It may be used for podcasts if we have any on the site.
Email addresses on the site use JavaScript encryption to stop spam so will not be visible if you have JavaScript disabled. You can still use the contact form on the contact page to contact us however if this is the case. Javascript is not needed for the contact form.

Podcasts

Podcasts will have a direct download link provided and text (HTML) transcripts where applicable.

PDF Documents

Minutes of meetings are provided as PDF documents. To read these documents the browser must have the Adobe Acrobat plug-in installed. However not all browsers support this.

There will be a link provided to the PDF to HTML conversion tool by Adobe and a link to Access Adobe on pages with PDF documents.

Resources

Webbie: free text browser for blind and visually impaired people.http://www.webbie.org.uk/
Thunder: free award winning screen reader http://www.screenreader.net/
Fire Vox: screen reading add on for the Firefox browser http://www.firevox.clcworld.net/
CliCK Speak: add on for Firefox browser for sighted viewers who want text speech as well http://clickspeak.clcworld.net/
Opera web browser: Includes many features for accessibility http://www.opera.com/
BBC Accessibility Information http://www.bbc.co.uk/accessibility/
BBC Connect- how to use the Internet http://www.bbc.co.uk/connect/
Web Accessibility Initiative http://www.w3.org/WAI/