Accessibility
Don't skip this
If you have no difficulty accessing the content of this site feel free to skip this page but remember:
The Access bar is where you can change things. It's near the top of the page and looks like this:
You can get back to here from any page by clicking the Accessibility Logo in the Bar.
If you do need improved access you may find it helpful to print this page.
This site has been designed to let you:
- swap between normal and high contrasts
- increase or decrease the font sizes of the main text
- listen to the pages if you first set up Adobe Reader.
- use Access Keys if you find the keyboard easier than a mouse.
Just one thing: if you refused to let active scripts run when you first opened this site you will still be able to navigate the site OK but the Accessibility Bar won't work!
General Compatibility
The pages have been designed to be World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) compliant so that most web-browsers will know exactly how to present the content. (Only about 1 in 10,000 websites are W3C compliant!)
Access Keys
Using access keys lets you navigate from the keyboard instead of using a mouse.Whether this works depends upon how your computer is set up and the version and type of web-page browser that you are using. Here are instructions for the latest and most popular Windows web-page browsers.
Internet Explorer 7
Whilst holding down the Alt key press the access Key (e.g. h). You must then release these keys and press the enter key to bring about the page changes.
 |
+ | Access Key | THEN |  |
Firefox 2
Whilst holding down both the Alt and Shift key press the access key (e.g. 1). You do not need the enter key.
|
+ |  |
+ | Access Key |
Access Keys
Accessibility page |
a |
Normal contrast |
n |
High contrast |
h |
Smaller font |
s |
Bigger font |
b |
Home page |
1 |
Consultants |
2 |
Links |
3 |
Contact us |
4 |
PDF file |
5 |
Why not check now if these work on your computer?
Contrast Settings
Contrasts between text and background for the default colour scheme have been chosen to meet W3C recommendations.
If you still struggle to read the pages then near the top of each page you can choose to swap between high contrast or normal settings.
Just click on the setting that you prefer.
Click here to go to the top of the page to try any of these.
We have checked the high-contrast pages using for the common forms of colour-blindness and they seem satisfactorily to address Deuteranopy, Protanopy and Tritanopy.
Change contrast in Firefox
In Firefox (but not in Internet Explorer) you can choose the default or high contrast settings even if your computer will not run active scripts.
Go to View / Page style and choose the style.
Font Size
Near the top of each page are two small buttons with which you can click repeatedly to resize the main text.
This is the best way to change font size as - unlike the browser based methods that follow - it changes the main text but leaves the rest of the web-page intact.
To quickly return to the original font size click your browser's page refresh button or press F5.
To go to the top of the page and try this click here.
Other methods
If you are running a modern version of your web-browser you may be able to change the text size with Ctrl+ and Ctrl- .
Hold down the Ctrl key and press + to enlarge it.
Hold down the Ctrl key and press - to reduce it.
In Firefox and Internet Explorer you can usually press control and use the mouse scroll button to magnify or reduce what is on-screen.
See below if the above methods don't work.
Font Size in Firefox
In Firefox you can change the font size by clicking
View / Text size / Increase or decrease
Font Size - Internet Explorer
In Internet Explorer you should still be able to change font size from the view menu.
View / Text size /Smallest, Smaller, Medium, Larger, Largest.
Go to top
Text to Speech
Text to Speech software is well developed but using it to read web-pages can still be problematic.
Pages on this site also exist as Adobe (Pdf) files. Adobe Reader Versions 7 and 8 have excellent built-in text to speech capability and we recommend that you use this method for text to speech conversion.
Setting up Adobe Reader
To listen to the page content you will first have to get pdf Files to display in Adobe reader rather than within the web browser.
In Adobe Reader 7 you use Edit / Preferences / Internet / web browser options to untick the Display PDF in Browser . (You can reverse this by re-ticking the box.)
In Adobe Reader 8 you can also quickly do this under Edit /Preferences / Internet / Web Browser options
Alternatively you can use the Accessibility set-up assistant Document / Adobe Setup Assistant.
Use the next button to scroll through the pages until you come to Display Pdf documents in web browser and uncheck this box. This means that Pdf files will load in Adobe Reader rather than within your web-browser.
Reading a page
First load the Pdf file by clicking on the print button that exists on our web-pages or by using Access Key 5 (See above). It should load into Adobe Reader.
Now click View / Read out loud /activate the reader (or press Shift + Ctrl + Y. )
Finally click View / Read out loud / Read to end of document ( or press Shift + Ctrl + B) to listen to the page content.
Reading Direct from the web-page
Windows Vista has an assistive technology tool called "Narrator. There are also other similar "readers" available to purchase.
In case you choose to read web pages directly with one of these we have
Minimised the use of text graphics.
Included alternate text descriptions for graphics and tables.
Used cascading style sheet positioning rather than tables.
Identified the language - English - in a way that to informs text to speech engines.
That said - we cannot promise that readers will function in a problem free fashion and still recommend using the Adobe pdf files!