Accessibility

The layout of the site also takes into account users who are visually impaired or have difficulty using a mouse. It is compatible with popular screen reading software and can be navigated using just a keyboard.

• The sitemap provides direct access to every part of the site.

• The navigation menu on the left of the screen appears consistently on every page.

• We know that the site operates correctly with the vast majority of browsers including: Firefox (PC & Mac), Safari (PC & Mac), Camino (Mac), Opera (Mac) and Internet Explorer 8, 7 and 6 browsers (PC). IE 6 works but the layout doesn’t always look quite right. Unless you have a good reason to use IE6, we politely suggest that you consider upgrading to IE7 or, better yet, one of the more standards-compliant browsers like Firefox, IE8 (which looks a big improvement on IE7), Safari or Chrome.

• For best results, the site does require a screen resolution of at 1024 pixels across or better (or the capability to zoom down automatically as the iPhone does). The site will work on a narrower screen but will require occasional horizontal scrolling.

• Text is easily scalable using browser viewing options.

• Alternative text tags are available for all images.

• The site works best with Javascript enabled, but all text is still accessible without it.

• All presentation styles are controlled with CSS stylesheets, which may be overridden in your browser.

• There are no flickering, strobing or otherwise animated graphics on the site.

• We offer some PDF files on this site. These are set to open in a new window or download (depending on your browser’s capabilities). You may need Adobe Acrobat or (free) Reader software to view PDFs. Adobe Reader is available to download here. Here is more information from Adobe on accessibility and PDF documents.

• All parts of the site can be accessed with a keyboard. If you need to do this, we recommend that you turn Javascript off.

• We have successfully tested the site using the Lynx text-only browser.

• We do have a shortcoming with the embedded (Google) maps. They require Javascript (both for embedded and click-to-their-site versions) so if Javascript is disabled, you won’t currently see any map.

If you have any suggestions for improving the accessibility of our site, please do contact us. Thanks.