About Us Contact Site Map

Introduction:


	Print this page

You are at: home > Website > Accessibility

Accessibility

Information

Sign On-line aims is to have a site that places accessibility and usability principles at the centre of its website as well as to provide you with an enjoyable interactive experience where possible. This page highlights what we have done to make our website accessible, and explains how to use these features.

Sign On-line website accessibility is continually under review and work is continually in progress to improve more with the accessibility where we hope to be implemented during the "Sign On-line Project - Phase 2".

Standards & Compliant:

This site has been built to web standards according to specifications espoused by the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) and the Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI) to promote the universal sharing of information equally and equitably. Which means it will work and display properly on all modern, standard compliant browsers. In effect this means version 5 browsers and above. However, we do strongly recommend to use Microsoft Internet Explorer due to the accessibility features and Windows Media Player that this browser supports effectively. Designing to web standards means the site has accessibility built in.

This site validates to HTML 4.01 transitional and CSS2.

Navigation:

There are number of features on this website make it easier for you to find what you want:

Access keys have been set up to make it easy to jump directly to frequently used pages.
Every page on this website includes a search box (access key "S").
Breadcrumb trails at the top - just under the green bar, is available on most web pages on this website, so that you always know where you are and can easily navigate back to the homepage or a section index page.
Clicking on the Sign On-line logo at the top-left side of any page will take you back to the Welcome page.

Images:

All graphics and images in this website have an alternative text (ALT) attribute that describes the contents or function of the image. This description will be displayed when the mouse pointer is moved over the image.

Visual:

Where colours are used we have tried to make sure there is maximum contrast between foreground and background items as outlined and recommended by RNIB (Royal National Institute of the Blind).

As mentioned earlier, Sign On-line continually under review and work is continually in progress to improve for more visual elements to be added to make it easier for everyone to use.

Access Keys:

In the W3C note "Techniques for Web Content Accessibility Guidelines", section Keyboard access, the need for access keys is motivated as follows:

"Not every user has a graphic environment with a mouse or other pointing device. Some users rely on keyboard, alternative keyboard or voice input to navigate links, activate form controls, etc. Content developers should always ensure that users may interact with a page with devices other than a pointing device. A page designed for keyboard access (in addition to mouse access) will generally be accessible to users with other input devices. What's more, designing a page for keyboard access will usually improve its overall design as well."

This can be crucial to people with motoric disabilities. Of course there are other conditions where it could be necessary or useful. To take a trivial example, if your mouse is temporarily broken, you might still wish to do some Web surfing. And in technologies which differ from "normal" PCs or terminals, such as WebTV, laptops, and handheld devices, a pointing device or function - if available at all - can be significantly more difficult to use for exact pointing than a good mouse.

Sign On-line Access Keys:

0	"Welcome" page (Home page)
1	"Help" page
2	"Meet the Partners" page
3	"Enter site" page
4	"Curriculum Development" section page
5	"Teaching Skills for Teachers" section page
6	"Sign Linguistics" section page
7	"About Us" page
8	"Contact" page
9	"Site Map" page
S	"Search" input box
A	"Accessibility" page
P	"Privacy statement" page
C	"Copyright notice & disclaimer" page

Using access keys:

This section details how access keys are implemented in various web browsers and operating systems.


Operating system	Browser	How to use access keys
Windows XP	I.E. 6	Press the Alt key followed by an access key and then press Enter.
Windows 98	I.E. 6	Press the Alt key followed by an access key and then press Enter.
Windows 95	I.E. 5.5 I.E. 5 I.E. 4	Press the Alt key followed by an access key and then press Enter.
	Mozilla	Press the Alt key and an access key at the same time.
	Netscape 6 Netscape 7	Press the Alt key and an access key at the same time.
Mac OS 9	I.E. 5.1 I.E. 5	Press the Ctrl key followed by an access key. (some systems need Control+Command+access key)
	iCab 2.8	Access key (sometimes need to click on page first)
	Netscape 6 Netscape 7	Press the Ctrl key followed by an access key.
Mac OS X 10	I.E. 5.1	Press the Ctrl key followed by an access key.
	iCab 2.8	Access key (sometimes need to click on page first)
	Netscape 6 Netscape 7	Press the Ctrl key followed by an access key.

Under Windows, access keys are not supported by Netscape 4 and Opera 6.

Under Mac OS 9, access keys are not supported by Internet Explorer 4, Internet Explorer 4.5, Mozilla, Netscape 4 and Opera 5.

Under Mac OS X 10, access keys are not supported by Mozilla and OmniWeb 4.

Feedback

If you have any comments, queries or feedback about this site please contact us.