This web site contains several accessibility features, including: different styles with which to view this web site, structured layout, scalable font sizes, list based menus with 'skip links', other navigation aids and mostly valid XHTML using CSS for styling. For more information click on the links below:

How to change styles (how you view this website)

You can change the way you view this web site using either the links below or the 'Change Style' options under the sub-menu ('In this Section'). Some browsers also have the ability to change styles from their menus.

These style changes are set in a cookie ( see our Privacy Policy ), so as long as the cookie remains, your changes will be remembered. If you delete your cookies then your preferred style will be lost and you will have to re-set it. Obviously if you do not allow cookies then your style preferences cannot be set.

How to change styles (how you view this website)

You can change the way you view this web site using either the links below or the 'Change Style' options under the sub-menu ('In this Section'). Some browsers also have the ability to change styles from their menus.

These style changes are set in a cookie ( see our Privacy Policy ), so as long as the cookie remains, your changes will be remembered. If you delete your cookies then your preferred style will be lost and you will have to re-set it. Obviously if you do not allow cookies then your style preferences cannot be set.

  • Default
    Default style image    This style is for most normal modern browsers with a screen over 800 x 600px. It is a 'Jello' design so it expands, even on big screens, but only up to a point, so that line length of the content does not become too long and therefore difficult to read. It is the default style. It uses JavaScript to provide the rounded corners and shadows, which can make it a tad slow on less than speedy machines. You can turn JavaScript off to speed up this option, but other JavaScript enhanced functions will also be turned off.

  • Default Dark
    Default Dark style image     Similar to the default style above but with a dark theme. This provides a different view for those who prefer predominantly light text on a dark background.

  • Zoom
    Zoom style image     This zoom style is intended for use by those with less than perfect vision and also for older browsers with a screen size less than 800 x 600px. The website is rearranged into a single column elastic design. It expands to the maximum screen width available, although this may make it more difficult to read on big screens. (You could try narrowing your browser window width.) It comes with a larger default font, although all our styles have fonts that are re-sizeable if your browser supports it. The main top menu has visible 'Jump to contents' and 'Jump to sub-menu' links . The sub menu ('In this Section') is now situated below the main contents. As it is a single column style it is capable of very large text re-sizing.

  • Zoom Contrast
    Zoom Contrast style image     Similar to the zoom style above but with a dark theme. Both Zoom styles also incorporate visible main menu and sub-menu numbering. This is based on 'legal document numbering' , where the main menu is either a 'page' or a 'section' and is a whole number. e.g. '2'. The sub-menu can be a 'Sub-Section' e.g. 2.1 or a 'Page' e.g. 2.1.1. The current section, current sub-section and or current page are shown in the menus. This is designed to aid users in knowing where they are within the website navigation structure.

  • No Style
    No style image     This is the web site without any styling. It is also what you would see if your browser did not understand how this web site is styled, for example older browsers, text browsers or some mobile phones and PDA's. The ability to change styles may not work, even though it is visible, if this is what you see by default.

You should note that the ability to change styles is not available in all browsers.

PDA's or mobile phones which understand the way this website is styled will get a special version of the 'Zoom' stylesheet by default. Switching to others styles is disabled as it may prove problematic. The section in help concerning changing styles is also removed.

PDA and some mobile phone users may also wish to experiment with how they view this website with, "Shrink to Fit to Screen', "Single Column' or similar from their browser menu, if it is available. They may also need to adjust the font size.

How to increase or decrease our website font size

Any of the style views of this web site allow text re-sizing. However, if you need to increase the font size to a very large degree, then please use either of the 'Zoom' styles or the 'No Style' option. The 'Zoom' styles are specifically designed for such font enlargement and have a bigger initial font-size.

Several web browsers allow you to increase or decrease the font size of a page by using either the menus or key presses. Please refer to your browser documentation. Here are some of the more common ones:

  • Internet Explorer 5+
    Select 'View' from the menu. There is an item labeled 'Text Size', which opens a sub-menu. This sub-menu should have the items 'Largest', 'Larger', 'Medium', 'Smaller', and 'Smallest'.
  • Firefox
    CTL key and '+' (increase) or CTL key '-' (decrease). CTL '0' resets to the default size
    On the mac use the "command" key (the one with the Apple logo on it) and '+', "command" "-" or "command" '0.
  • Opera
    Select 'View' from the menu. There is an item labeled 'Zoom'. Choose the percentage of +/- zoom you require. Note this is a 'Zoom' not a font-resize.
  • Safari
    Apple key and '+' (increase) or Apple key '-' (decrease).

How to use our website navigation

  • Main Navigation
    Our website is split into sections. Each section is an item on the main menu at the top of the page, This effectively let you move between sections. The sub-menu (to the right or to the bottom of the page - depending on which style you are using,) contains the subsections and or pages for that section.
    We also have a Search Engine and a Site Map to help you locate the information you require. If you still cannot find what you are looking for then please contact us.
  • Breadcrumb Link Navigation
    This website has a 'breadcrumbs' link list at the bottom of the sub menu. This enables you to see where you are within a section of the website, with click-able links back up that sections hierarchy.
  • Footer Navigation
    In the footer of each page is a further set of navigation links. The 'Previous' and 'Next' links take you back or forward through the web site respectively. There is also a 'Top' link which jumps you to the top of the current page. The 'Previous' page, Next' page and 'Home' page navigational information is also contained within internal navigation (rel) links, which some browsers are able to utilise.
  • Other Navigation
    • You can also click on the website logo, situated at the top of all pages, to jump to the home page.
    • If you wish to see a 'click-able' overview of this website, showing all the pages as a hierarchy, then please visit our site-map page.

How well does this website validate

  • XHTML
    Much of this website validates as XHTML 1.0 Strict. Currently only a few pages are known to fail this validation: The 'Map' page because of some 'Google Map VML' elements we had to include for Internet Explorer and some pages with forms on. The 'form' pages which fail are due to a minor point (name attribute on form) which is caused by a small problem with our CMS (Content Management System) which we hope to rectify soon. You can see if a page validates by clicking on the 'XHTML 1.0 Strict' option in the footer.
  • CSS
    Most of the CSS (Cascading Style Sheets) validate, where they do not validate it is because the choice was to put functionality and usability above validation. You can which CSS validates and which does not by clicking on the 'CSS' option in the footer.
  • Accessibility
    Almost every page of this web site should pass at least the W3C WCAG WAI-A machine tests over at WebXact and complies, we believe, with most, if not all of the obligatory subjective qualifications. We also believe that most pages comply with at least all the priority 1 guidelines of the W3 Web Content Accessibility Guidelines. This is a minimum level of compliance, we would expect all, but those pages listed below, to achieve 'AAA' or Priority 1, 2 and 3 in the automated accessibility tests.  Other accessibility validators used were 'Cynthia ' validator, the 'Functional Accessibility Evaluator ' from the University of Illinois and the Colour Blind Web Page Filter.

    Whilst we appreciate the difference between passing automatic tests and real-life accessibility, we have made considerable efforts in that direction and hope we have a site which is accessible to most people.

    If you feel that there are other pages on this web site which do not comply or if your feel there are things we can do to improve accessibility further then please contact us.