This page outlines some of the techniques we have used to enhance the website’s accessibility, and explains how users can take advantage of these. If you have any questions or comments relating to accessibility, please contact us.
Using our accessibility features
Tab indexes
Tab indexes in pages
Many browsers support navigating through a web page by using the Tab key. As the Tab key is pressed repeatedly, hyperlinks are highlighted in a specific order defined in the web page. Pressing Shift + Tab will navigate through the indexed hyperlinks in reverse order.
All content pages define the following tab index order:
- Skip to content.
- Skip to primary navigation.
- Search.
Thereafter, repeated pressing of the Tab key should cycle through the remaining hyperlinks in the page in the order in which they appear in the underlying mark-up.
Tab indexes in forms
In addition to the tab indexing defined in our pages as previously described, tab indexes have also been defined in the forms that appear on the site. This allows users to navigate from field to field in logical order using the Tab key.
Keep in mind that support for tab indexing may vary among browsers. Because of this, we cannot ensure that the tab index order we have defined will work in all situations.
Headings and semantic mark-up
All pages in this site use structured semantic mark-up, including proper use of heading tags.
Visitors using recent versions of screen readers can navigate using the following keystrokes:
- H to cycle forwards through the headings
- Shift + H to cycle backwards through the headings
- 1 to navigate to the next level 1 heading (or a number between 1 and 6 to navigate to the next heading on this level)
- Shift + 1 to navigate to the previous level 1 heading (or a number between 1 and 6 to navigate to the previous heading on this level)
- INSERT + F6 to provide a list of all headings.
Other browsers or assistive technologies may provide different or additional functionality based on headings that appear in the page. For example, current versions of Opera have keyboard navigation that is helpful to visitors with motor difficulties. In Opera, use the following keys to navigate headings:
- S to cycle forwards through the headings
- W to cycle backwards through the headings.
Hyperlinks
Many hyperlinks have title attributes which describe the hyperlink in greater detail, unless the text of the hyperlink already fully describes the target (such as the headline of an article).
Hyperlinks are written to make sense out of context.
There are no JavaScript-dependent pseudo-hyperlinks, so all hyperlinks can be followed in any browser, even if scripting is turned off.
Where hyperlinks are configured to open in a new window, a small icon like this appears. This icon is visible in all standards-compliant browsers we have tested, except Internet Explorer 6 and below.
Video
All video clips are accompanied by descriptive text (transcript) and captions.
Video clips are displayed on pages using the YouTube HTML5 widget, which degrades to a Flash widget when opened in non-HTML5 compatible web browsers.
Images
Where images convey meaning not addressed by the adjacent descriptive text, we have used ALT attributes to provide a text alternative to the graphical content.
Purely decorative graphics, and images with adjacent equivalent text or descriptive text, include null ALT attributes. Purely decorative graphics and images do not appear in-line with text or other elements for the most part; but have been separated from actual content through the use of CSS.
CSS and JavaScript
This website makes use of Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) and JavaScript. They are used to enhance the user experience only.
Neither CSS or Javascript is relied upon to implement core functionality. For example, our drop down navigation menus use JavaScript, but we provide alternate non-JavaScript hyperlinks throughout, so you can navigate and reach all pages, even with JavaScript turned off in your browser.
Also, even though our visual design and layout uses CSS, every part of the site well organised and readable when CSS is turned off in your browser.
Text size and type contrast
Care has been taken to allow users to adjust the text size in browsers that provide that functionality; while maintaining the integrity of the layout. The text size may be adjusted by selecting the zoom or text size options in your browser.
Colours, background images, and fonts have been chosen to maintain good screen contrast and readability.
For users who prefer to browse using the browser's default fonts and colours, the page presentation will remain readable if CSS is turned off in your browser.
Acronyms and abbreviations
Due to its legal nature, this site makes use of many acronyms and abbreviations. In cases where the same abbreviation or acronym appears more than once in a page, only the first instance is marked up as such.
Browser compatibility
Considerable effort has been made to ensure the website is fully usable and functional in all modern visual browsers, as well as text-only browsers, screen readers, and mobile devices.
The site has been tested and found to perform on the latest version of Chrome, Internet Explorer, Edge, Safari, and Firefox.
Extensive efforts have been made such that older browsers which do not fully support current Web standards will "degrade gracefully," while still providing good usability.
Accessibility software
NVDA, a free screen reader for Windows.
JAWS, a screen reader for Windows. A time-limited, downloadable demo is available.
Lynx, a free, text-only web browser for blind users with refreshable Braille displays.
Links, a free, text-only web browser for visual users with low bandwidth.
Opera, a free visual browser with many accessibility-related features, including text zooming, user stylesheets, and image toggle. Compatible with Windows, Macintosh, Linux, and several other operating systems.