Accessibility
Text Size
The size of the text on this website can be easily increased or decreased without disrupting the design. If you are using Internet Explorer or Firefox and have a mouse with a scroll wheel simply hold down the Ctrl key on your keyboard while scrolling up or down to increase/decrease the text size. Alternatively, select View > Text Size from your menu and select the size option you prefer from Smallest to Largest.
Skip links
If you are using a mobile phone, tabbing through all the links with your keyboard or listening to the site through a screen reader you may find the Skip to Content link really useful. They are the first links on every page. Simply click them and you will avoid all the repetitive text/images (existing on every page) and you will be taken straight to the content you want.
Browse Aloud: Speech Enabling our Website
This website is now speech-enabled, which means that you can download free software onto your personal computer and have the site read aloud to you.
The free software is called browsealoud, and is used on over 2000 websites in the UK and USA. Browsealoud is a Windows browser plug-in designed for use with Internet Explorer 4 upwards or Netscape Navigator. If you install the browsealoud plugin onto your PC, you can have the web pages on our website read to you (as well as any other sites that are speech-enabled).
Why speech enable our website?
Speech enabling our website provides an additional way of accessing our content for people who find it hard to read. This includes those with dyslexia or learning difficulties, those for whom English is not their first language, or anyone with a mild visual impairment. It is not designed to replace other screen readers.
What is browsealoud?
Browsealoud is a solution that allows you to have website content read to you. As you move the cursor over text, it is spoken aloud. Browsealoud is free to download and you have control over the voice, word pronunciations and speech highlighting.
How does it work?
You download a free, small browser plug-in. Once the plug-in has been installed, content on this site can be spoken aloud.
Does it work on all pages?
Browsealoud will read every webpage on our site. It can also read pdfs in Adobe Reader Version 6.0 onwards. This meets the World Wide Web Consortium's (W3C's) Level A guidelines for accessibility.
Can I customise browsealoud?
Yes. Once plugged in, look for the browsealoud icon in your system tray, which is usually at the bottom right hand corner of your screen (beside the system clock). Right click on the icon and choose 'open browsealoud settings' from the menu. The speech tab on the settings window enables you to choose a male or female voice, and change the speed, pitch and volume of the reader. To read the entire page from where your cursor points, check the 'Continue reading from pointer' box. Otherwise Browsealoud will only read the individual sentences you point to.
For further help and assistance with the Browsealoud product take a look at the Browsealoud FAQs on their website.
Downloading browsealoud
Click on the link below and you will be taken to an external site where you will find full instructions to carry out the download and installation. A browsealoud icon will be placed in your system tray which is at the bottom right of your browser.
Please click here to download browsealoud
We believe accessibility is not a once only operation but something we have to re-visit and constantly improve on.
It is not our intention to disenfranchise any member of the community.