An Introduction to Website Accessibility.
The design and production of this website is engineered with
accessibility in mind, this means features like buttons are built
with HTML/CSS without using graphics or images.
This website totally complies with W3C (World Wide Web
Consortium) guidelines. These guidelines are separated into 14
checkpoints which can then be sub-divided into three priorities;
where priority 1 must be satisfied, priority 2 should be satisfied
and priority 3 be satisfied, to gain any level of compliance.
Websites can be categorised by conformance, with level A meaning
all priority 1 checkpoints are satisfied, level AA meaning all
priority 2 checkpoints are satisfied and level AAA meaning all
priority 3 checkpoints are satisfied. This website is designed and
developed at least at level A with the majority being level AA. For
further information go to the W3C Accessibility Guidelines.
Access Keys
Access keys are designed to enable the user to navigate a website
using only the keyboard. For more information on access keys visit
the W3C Accessibility Guidelines.
Available Access Keys for this Site:
U - About
H - Homepage (Personal)
M - Homepage (Merchants)
C - Contact
Q - FAQs
W - News
A - Accessibility
I - Privacy Policy
3 - Site map
T - Terms and Conditions
How to Use Access Keys
PCs: Hold down the ALT and SHIFT keys together, and then press the
relevant access key. (You may also need to release all keys then
press ENTER)
Macs: Hold down the CTRL key and press the relevant access
key.
Use of Images
The images on this website have been supplied with alternative text
attributes, also known as alt text, so whenever an image is used on
a page it is also described in the alt text. This means that the
image can be understood by text browsers and assistive technologies
such as screen readers. If an image is simply for decoration, the
text attribute for the image is left empty in order to comply with
accepted best practice.
Where possible live text has been used rather than graphics to
reduce page download time and to increase control over the text
size.
Resizing Fonts and Browser Compatibility
This website uses font sizes that you can control using your web
browser. It is possible to change the text size in Internet
Explorer by selecting View Text size followed by your preferred
text size ranging from 'Smallest' to 'Largest', with the default
set to 'Medium'.
To change the text size in Mozilla Firefox, select View >
Text size followed by 'Increase' or 'Decrease'. Select 'Normal' to
return the text size to its default setting. The website's layout
has been designed to fill the width of any browser and you can also
resize it to suit your viewing preferences.
This website has been compatibility tested for use with the
following browsers IE 5.5, Mozilla Firefox 1.0, Netscape 7.0,
Safari 1.0
There is also a text only version of this website which has been
tested for browser and screen reader compatibility.
W3C Validators
XHTML1.1
CSS2.1
Print Page Options
A print page facility is provided on each page of the website and
will print out at the corresponding selected font size. E.g. if you
have selected large print the print page facility will print in
large print.
Skip Navigation Options
At any point while surfing the site, you can use the access key to
skip to content or 'N' to skip to the navigation. Please see the
Access Keys section of this page to find out how to use Access
Keys.
Help Us to Help You
We always aim to meet the Priority A, AA, and where possible AAA
checkpoints as set down in the W3C Web Content Accessibility
Guidelines. This website is also tested on a regular basis using a
combination of automated tools and manual testing.