Accessibility

We aim to have this site easily viewable and accessible to everyone, regardless of technology (browser or computer equipment), or ability. We are continually making improvements to the accessibility and usability of this website, based on available standards and guidelines, as well as feedback from our residents and website visitors.

Web accessibility standards

This website endeavours to conform to level Double-A of the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 1.0. Furthermore, it also complies in most respects with the Priority 3, or Triple-A, checkpoints.

We are also actively following the developments in standards and guidelines, and have also reviewed the site using version 2.0 of the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG 2.0) from the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C), which is currently out as a candidate for recommendation to become the new standard.

In the coding of the site, we strive to adhere to valid XHTML and CSS, so that the site displays correctly in current browsers, and any future browsers will also display it correctly.

Due to the dynamic nature of this website, with content being updated and added daily, it is not always possible to guarantee that all areas of the website are at the same level of overall accessibility. We use standard templates and style guidelines in order to strive to the highest possible accessibility. In addition, the overall site accessibility is reviewed regularly.

Should you experience any difficulty in accessing this website, please do not hesitate to email us at website@a2dominion.co.uk or use our online feedback form.

File attachments

Non-HTML files downloadable from this site – such as Adobe PDF files – may present accessibility problems. Download the free Adobe PDF Reader so that you can access PDF downloads on this website and others.

If you have a problem accessing PDF files or any other information on the site, please contact us at website@a2dominion.co.uk or use our online feedback form.

Alternative formats and languages

Please note that we can produce any of our publications in another language, in large print, on tape or CD and in Braille. We can also arrange for a translator to visit your home, or speak to you over the phone. Please note that we can only offer these services to A2Dominion residents. For more information, visit our translate page.

Browser compliance

This site has been specifically tested with the following browsers:

On a PC

Internet Explorer 5.5
Internet Explorer 6
Internet Explorer 7
Firefox 2.0
Firefox 3.0
Opera 6.6
Lynx text-only browser.

On a Macintosh

Safari 3.1.2 on Macintosh
Firefox 3.0.3 on Macintosh

Mobile devices

The site has been tested with selected mobile devices, including mobile phones and iPod touch.

Specific accessibility features

The text sizes on this site are changeable simply by clicking on the text size indicators, the 'A' buttons, found on each webpage above the top navigation headings. Alternatively, you can use the browser’s controls to change the text size as follows:

In Internet Explorer 6, select
View – Text size - Largest/Larger/Medium/Smaller/Smallest

In Internet Explorer 7, select
Page – Text size - Largest/Larger/Medium/Smaller/Smallest

In Firefox
<Ctrl><+>increases the font size and <Ctrl><-> decreases it

Colour schemes and contrast

We have aimed to provide a reasonable contrast throughout the site so that it is usable by anyone with a colour vision deficiency. Information is always conveyed by text or markers in addition to colour. In addition, a high contrast version of the website can be viewed by clicking on the contrast icon (the white-on-black 'A' button, found on each webpage alongside the text resizing buttons).

Access keys

The use of the access keys is still part of the current accessibility standard (Checkpoint 9.5) , but due to the browser implementation, they can conflict with the user’s existing controls.

Therefore we have provided only the most essential access keys, in order to optimise the help they provide whilst minimising any disadvantages.

To use access key: Press the access key letter while holding the 'Alt' key, then press enter.

The access keys are as follows:-

To bypass the navigation and jump straight to content: 1
Sitemap: 2
Feedback: 3

The requirement for access keys has been removed from the WCAG 2.0 recommendations.

Pre-filled form fields

Priority 3 checkpoint 10.4 of WCAG 1.0 recommends that “until user agents handle empty controls correctly, include default, place-holding characters in edit boxes and text areas.”

Usability research has shown that pre-filled text fields can cause difficulties for some modern screen readers, therefore we do not include them.

Furthermore, this requirement for placeholding text has been removed from the WCAG 2.0 recommendations.

Speech enabled service

This website is speech enabled. To listen to the contents of our website, click on the Speech Enabled link on the top left of the page.

There is more to the speech enabled service than enabling a webpage to talk. This is reflected in the extra functions built into the speech enabled service:

Speech navigation: enabling users who can't read the screen to understand and navigate links by listening and selecting from a numbered list
Magnification: enabling users to read a page, magnified up to 32 times and displayed in the way that suits them best
Contrast overlay: letting dyslexic users in particular change the colour scheme to suit their needs

How to contact us

Should you experience any difficulty in accessing this website, or if you have suggestions on how to improve the usability and accessibility of this website, please do not hesitate to email us at website@a2dominion.co.uk or use our online feedback form.