Accessibility Statement
"We, at The Greater Manchester Play
Resources Unit, have made every effort to enable everyone to gain equal
access to our website and its content, regardless of: hearing, visual,
physical, motor, cognitive or speech ability; and regardless of the type
or age of any technology used." - Ruth Northall & Allan
Hargreaves - on behalf of Grumpy.
Accessibility - What It Means and Why It Matters!
'Accessibility' effectively means just that: the
ability to access! - To enable everyone to have equal access to
all resources.
An application of accessibility in the real World, would be to add a
wheelchair ramp to a shop entrance that previously had only steps. Steps
allow many people to access a shop but can make access difficult or
impossible for wheelchair (and many other) users. The addition of a
ramp, enables equal access to all users.
The same principle applies to the design of websites. All users
should have equal access to the same resources. This
does not mean the provision of 'alternative' resources for users with
disabilities or older technology; it means the provision of methods to
access the 'same' resources as all other users.
Why Accessibility Matters!
Accessibility is ethical, good for the community and a legal
requirement! Some of the many benefits of owning and running an
accessible website include:
- The satisfaction of supporting users with disabilities and the
organisations that represent them such as: DRC, RNIB, TNAUK, ADO, EA,
SCOPE, UKDPC.
- There are millions of people with disabilities, and millions of
people using older technology, and they are browsing the Web every day
looking for local information and services.
- Search engines rate accessible website content more highly in search
results.
- Accessible design produces more efficient pages which load faster
and are therefore more accessible to dial-up users. Not everyone has
broadband!
- Accessible websites reach a far wider audience, because of being
more compatible with a variety of browser technologies, such as: mobile
phones, PDA's, TV, screen readers, in-car entertainment systems and so
on.
- Accessible design is also 'future-proof' design - in years to come,
accessible websites will still be standing long after their inaccessible
competition has crumbled to html dust.
Accessibility Help for Users With Disabilities or Older
Technology
Keyboard Shortcuts
- Alt + 0 = Accessibility Help Page (Accesskey 0).
- Alt + 2 = Skip navigation menu and start reading main page content
(Accesskey 2).
- Home = Go to the beginning of the current page.
- Page Up = Scroll towards the beginning of the current page in screen
sized increments.
- Page Down = Scroll towards the end of the current page in screen
sized increments.
- Arrow Up = Scroll towards the beginning of the current page in
single line increments.
- Arrow Down = Scroll towards the end of the current page in single
line increments.
- End = Go to the end of the current page.
- Tab = Steps forward through all the navigation and links on the
current page.
- Shift + Tab = Steps backward through all the navigation and links on
the current page.
- Enter = Activates the currently selected link.
- F1 = Opens the relevant help file for the browser.
- F3 = Opens a search box (this feature works in Firefox, Internet
Explorer and Opera).
- F11 = Toggles the browser window between maximum size and normal
view.
- Esc = Stops the current page from downloading.
- Backspace = Returns to the previous page.
How to Change the Size of Page Text
- Microsoft Internet Explorer 5 and 6 = Open the 'View' drop-down
menu, highlight the 'Text Size' option and select your preferred text
size from the menu that opens to the right: Medium, Larger, Largest.
- Firefox, Netscape and other Mozilla browsers = On your keyboard,
hold down the Ctrl key and then press either; + to increase text size,
or - to reduce text size.
General Tips
- If you are using a dial-up modem and would like to download pages
more quickly, you can switch off images in your browser. This allows
your browser to just download text, which is much faster.
- Internet Explorer 5 and 6 = Open the 'Tools'
drop-down menu, select 'Internet Options...' then open the 'Advanced'
tab. Scroll down to the 'Multimedia' section and un-tick the box next
to: 'Show pictures' then activate the 'OK' button to close the 'Tools'
window. Images are now turned off and you basically have a text only
browser!
- Firefox = Open the 'Tools' drop-down menu, select
'Options' then open the 'Content' tab. Un-tick the box marked: 'Load
Images'. Activate the 'OK' button to close the 'Tools' window. Images
are now turned off and you basically have a text only browser!
- Netscape = Open the 'Edit' drop-down menu, select
'Preferences...' then open the 'Advanced' tab and select 'Images'.
Select the button marked: 'Do not load any images'. Activate the 'OK'
button to close the 'Edit' window. Images are now turned off and you
basically have a text only browser!
- 'Windows' has a number of built-in accessibility aids including a
'high-contrast' setting which can be useful for web browsing, it's a bit
ugly, but very effective. You can enable this facility as follows:
- Select the 'Control Panel' from the 'Start' menu.
- Select 'Accessibility Options'.
- Select the 'Display' tab.
- Tick the box labeled: 'Use High Contrast' and then
active the 'OK' button to close the 'Accessibility Options' window.
After a few seconds, your PC will display everything in high contrast.
To undo this setting, just go through the steps above and un-tick the
'Use High Contrast' box.
Help Us to Improve Our Website Accessibility
We will continue to evaluate and improve accessibility and usability
on a regular basis. If you have any suggestions as to how we can make
our website more accessible and usable please contact us and let us know.
Further Accessibility Resources:
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