Accessibility
Important information about our website
The Digital Accessibility Centre (DAC) website is currently undergoing a significant rebuild. If you are experiencing any problems using our website, please let us know via our contact page, and we will be happy to help.
The Digital Accessibility Centre (DAC) is committed to providing a website that is accessible to the widest possible audience, regardless of disability, capability or technology. At DAC we also routinely check web pages - when amendments are made to existing pages and when new pages are released - to ensure that they meet our accessibility requirements, and we do respond positively to feedback regarding the accessibility of any of our pages or services.
Return to content menu.Accessibility Guidelines
This site has been developed to conform to level AA of the World Wide Web Consortium’s (W3C) Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 2.1 (WCAG 2.1). These guidelines are the internationally recognised benchmark for building accessible web sites. The Web Content Accessibility Guidelines explain how to make websites more accessible for people with disabilities. Conformance with these guidelines also makes websites more user-friendly for everyone.
Return to content menu.Assistive Technologies
The following assistive technologies are compatible with the site except for areas that have accessibility limitations outside of our control.
- JAWS Screen Reader version 2019 and above
- Dragon Naturally Speaking version 15 and above
- ZoomText Screen Magnifier version 2019 and above
Please note: You may experience issues with older versions of these applications or other assistive technologies. If you experience any issues, please feel free to contact us.
Browser Compatibility
The site has been cross-platform and cross-browser tested and is currently compatible with modern browsers including:
- Microsoft Edge version 106 and above
- Mozilla Firefox version 106 and above
- Apple Safari version 16 and above
- Google Chrome version 106 and above
Please note that you may experience issues with older versions of these browsers or other web browsers. If you experience any issues, please feel free to contact us.
Return to content menu.Web Standards and Technologies
This website has been developed to conform to World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) standards for HTML 5 (HyperText Mark-up Language) and CSS 3 (Cascading Style Sheets).
This website is reliant upon HTML and CSS to render content. Additional technologies including JavaScript have been utilised, certain areas such as alternative style sheets rely on this technology. However, every effort has been made to make these technologies as accessible as possible.
Return to content menu.Accessibility Limitations
Due to certain constraints, we have had to include technologies and features that cause accessibility issues. These include:
- The YouTube player
- Twitter feed
We are making every effort to overcome these limitations by improving their accessibility and failing that, provide accessible alternatives. If you require alternative versions to our downloadable documents (such as plain text), or if you experience any accessibility problems with our site, please contact us.
DAC does not assume responsibility for third party applications.
Return to content menu.Using the Website
We aim to provide the most accessible experience possible for our visitors and have implemented the following accessibility features:
Return to content menu.Keyboard Navigation
- Logical and consistent navigation are provided for keyboard users.
- Links can be understood out of context for screen reader users
- Links are highlighted on keyboard focus
- Our logo links to the home page
- Skip navigation link - For sighted users, the 'skip to' links are revealed by pressing the tab key after the page loads. You can skip to different areas of the page, depending on what options are available. Unfortunately, Skip Links may not function correctly in browsers such as Chrome, Opera and Safari. We are currently looking into ways of overcoming this issue.
- Site search facilities have been implemented
Screen reader navigation
If you are using a screen reader, you should be able to navigate through the site using the following keyboard commands:
- H to move forwards through the page headings.
- Shift + H to move backwards through the page headings.
- 1 to navigate to the next level 1 heading (or 2 for the next level 2 heading, and so on to heading 6).
- Shift + 1 to navigate to the previous level 1 heading (same applies for headings 2-6).
- Insert + F5 to get a list of all form controls on the page.
- Insert + F6 to get a list of all headings on the page.
- Insert + F7 to get a list of all links on the page.
Changing the colour and font of the display
DAC offers alternate colour schemes to be able to personalize the site. You can also use the controls in your browser to change the size of the text or the colour of the display.
For example, to override website font and zoom settings in Microsoft Edge:
- Open Edge
- Press Alt+F to open the main menu, and choose Settings
- Under the Accessibility option you can:
- Show a high visibility outline around the area of focus on the page.
- Choose your zoom level for webpages.
- Under the Apperance option you can:
- Chnage the general colour of the pages
- Customise your Minimum Font Size
Media Player
We currently use Youtube to present video information. All video that DAC provides has been captioned to benefit Deaf and hard of hearing users.
Return to content menu.Links, new windows and layers
Links to pages and other websites will open in the same window unless otherwise stated within the link text or before a list of links. Some links may also open in a new layer, like a pop up, on top of the page you are viewing.
The text (opens in a new window) will be hidden off screen for screen reader users.
Before a list of links:
Links to downloadable documents and files will open in a new window to avoid conflicting with assistive technologies. These links will use the following format:
Filename (File Type, File Size)
For example: Application Form (PDF, 1.7 MB)
You can open links in a new window by using the keyboard shortcut Shift+Enter.
Please note: The keyboard shortcut for opening links in a new window may be different depending on the browser and operating system.
Return to content menu.Downloadable Files
We have made files available to download in a variety of formats. The most common are:
Adobe Acrobat (.pdf)
Microsoft Word (.doc)
If you are unable to open these types of documents, please download and install the latest versions of the free viewer software:
Adobe Acrobat Reader Download Page
OneDrive allows you to view Word documents online.
Contacting Us
We are always looking for ways to help people get the best experience from this website. If there is information you think that should be included on this page, or if you experience any problem accessing the website then please feel free to contact us:
Email: info@digitalaccessibilitycentre.org
Phone: +44 1792 815267
SMS: 07597 690358