We have designed and built this website with accessibility at the forefront of our mind and we have closely followed standards that relate to accessibilty and usability.
We have designed the pages on the site to be as screen reader friendly as possible.
We offer a skip navigation option (access key "m") to avoid the burden of navigation being read out on each page visited.
Our site is built using stylesheets and contains no tables other than those used for presenting tablular information. The use of CSS means that the written content of the site is separate from the design elements. This makes the site easier to understand - for example, when using a screen reader.
You can use the following access keys to quickly move around the main areas of the site without using your mouse.
Home = access key "1"
About Us = access key "2"
Businesses = access key "3"
Corporate = access key "4"
News = access key "5"
Contact Us = access key "6"
Accessibility Notes = access key "a"
Sitemap = access key "s"
Skip Top Navigation = access key "m"
Disclaimer = access key "d"
Using Access Keys
Internet Explorer 5+ (on a PC) Hold down the ALT key, press the access key of your choice, release both keys then press Enter
Netscape 7 (on a PC) - Hold down the ALT key and press the access key of your choice
Firefox, Mozilla (on a PC) - Hold down the ALT key and press the access key of your choice
Firefox, Mozilla (on a Mac) - Hold down the CTRL key and press the access key of your choice
Safari(on a Mac) - Hold down the CTRL key and press the access key of your choice
Opera - Hold down the Shift key and press Escape, release both keys, then press the access key of your choice
Our side menus can be also accessed using your keyboard.
Internet Explorer - your tab key will allow you to move around the page links.
Firefox - your tab key will allow you to move around the page links.
Opera - you can tab between links using the 'a' key. Using the tab key in Opera tabs between form controls.
If you use Firefox, Opera or Netscape, and you use your keyboard to navigate our site, most links are highlighted as you tab over them. This is not currently part of Internet Explorer's functionality.
The majority of text on the website is resizable, you can alter the size of the text on your screen by opening the 'View' menu on your browser, and then by choosing to alter the text size up or down, or with Opera, you can zoom in and out of the page.
All our links (including PDF documents) open in the same window. If you wish to open any link in a new window:
Using Keyboard Shortcuts
Internet Explorer - press Ctrl and 'N'
Firefox - press Shift and hit return
Opera - press Shift and hit return
Using your mouse
Internet Explorer - right click on the link and choose: 'Open in New Window'
Firefox - right click on the link and choose: 'Open Link in New Window'
Opera - right click on the link and choose: 'Open in New Window'
On a Mac - hold the left mouse key and choose: 'Open Link in New Window'
The majority of the downloads on this site are in PDF format. To open these files you need to have Adobe Reader installed on your pc.
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