Accessibility Policy - What We've Done So Far and What's Next

Accessibility Statement (Official Bit!)

"We, at Intech Design Limited, 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." - Brian Darby, Managing Director.

We are continuing to evaluate and improve accessibility and usability on a regular basis. We are also implementing aspects of the WCAG 2.0. If you have any suggestions as to how we can make our website more accessible and usable please let us know, as we welcome suggestions from our users.

Our managing director, Brian, has a minor disability which allows him (in a small way) to understand some of the problems faced by PC, Internet and Web users with physical disabilities. Brian has chronic (and often acute) rheumatoid arthritis and has lost the use of both wrists, both knees and several fingers! Brian makes the following comment:

"My situation is insignificant, there are hundreds of thousands of people out there that face real frustration every time they try to browse the Web to obtain information, products and services! I have friends who are; colour blind, partially-sighted, deaf, dyslexic and so on, they have real problems and difficulty accessing and extracting information from the majority of websites. When you ask them about their situation, they definitely do not see themselves as 'dis-abled' or 'less-abled'! They believe the ones with the disabilities are the website designers and owners who are un-able to produce and manage accessible websites!"

Accessibility - What We've Done So Far:

  • A strict document type with a full URI (a complete web address) begins each page of HTML markup on our website. This tells browsers to render our pages in standards-compliant mode, and helps with cross-browser compatibility.
  • We use HTML 4.01 Strict, semantic, structural markup which assists text and audio browsers.
  • We use CSS2 external style sheets to separate each Web page's HTML structure from its visual style as recommended in the W3C's WCAG.
  • All pages are tested for HTML 4.01 Strict compliance with the W3C Markup Validation Service and pass without error.
  • All pages are tested for CSS2 compliance with the W3C CSS Validation Service and pass without error or warning.
  • All pages are 'automatically' tested for accessibility using two respected testing services, Watchfire WebEXACT™ and Cynthia Says™. All pages pass the automated WCAG priority 1,2, and 3 checkpoints.
  • All pages are then 'manually' checked for compliance with WCAG Level AAA guidelines. We carry out manual checks on all the priority 1,2 and 3 checkpoints that cannot otherwise be tested automatically, such as; text and background colour contrast, navigation tab order, alt and title attributes and so on.
  • Our current knowledge of accessible design techniques is applied to every new page that we add to our website, so that the majority of compliance and accessibility tests and checks are met without further intervention. Whenever we come across a new accessibility or usability problem, we solve it and then apply that solution to future pages.
  • We use some access keys throughout our website. However, we only use a couple of the most useful access keys since there is no standard format for them as yet.
  • Our navigation system is logical and simple and its 'Tab' order is very easy to follow. Therefore, we do not use the tabindex attribute on our website. We prefer to let our users choose for themselves.
  • Each page of our website HTML markup, begins with a 'Skip navigation' link to allow users to bypass all our main navigation links and go straight to the page content. This 'Skip navigation' link is visible to all users, since it is also useful for people with physical disabilities or people using alternative browsing technology such as mobile phones etc.
  • Each page header of our website contains a visible link to our accessibility help page.
  • All our Web page content is written in a logical order and each page is checked using the W3C Markup Validation Service, 'Outline' facility. We use headings to help define the structure of our pages and each heading defines a particular area of content; Main heading for the page subject, sub-heading for each topic relating to the main page subject and sub sub-headings for supporting material. This is very beneficial for screen readers, many of which can allow the user to step through page headings to help choose an area of content to read. This is similar to the way sighted readers visually scan down a page, checking for interesting headings, before reading any paragraph content.
  • All images on our website use the alt attribute. Decorative images contain empty alt attributes. Important images contain an alt attribute that describes the function of the image.
  • All links (including navigation) on our website use the title attribute. This provides additional information to the user, about the destination of the link.
  • Where we quote information from a particular source, word for word; we use the HTML blockquote element to provide assistance to screen reader speech synthesizers.
  • We use the HTML 'strong' element to emphasise important words or short sentences, as this helps users with text only browsers and screen readers to understand their significance.
  • We do not use any JavaScript for navigation or in the structure of our website since it can present problems to assistive technologies. Most of the cosmetic or visual benefits of JavaScript can be reproduced using CSS2, and for more important applications we prefer to use PHP, which is independent of the user's browser settings and operating system capabilities. Also, some users simply disable JavaScript or configure their browsers or firewalls to block pop-ups etc.
  • All our page layouts are defined using CSS2 divisions. We do not use tables for layout as they can interfere with screen readers, and can also make it more difficult for search systems to properly catalogue website content. Tables are only use for their intended purpose, which is to organise blocks of tabular data.
  • All text and background colours on our website are chosen to provide good contrast for readability. We test all our page text content on a very old and tired, greyscale monitor.
  • All pages are tested on a text only browser (lynx) for readability and function.
  • We use the Verdana font throughout our website. It provides more space between text characters and is recommended for use with screen readers.
  • We also test on Netscape Navigator 4 to make sure our Web pages are still usable without style sheets.
  • Visual compatibility and usability are also checked across the following browsers: Firefox 1.5 +, Netscape 6, Internet Explorer 6 - 7 and Opera 8 - 9. These checks are carried out both on Windows 98, Windows XP and Windows Vista platforms. Recently, we also began testing using the new Windows compatible Safari 3.0 browser.
  • Our online enquiry form 'textarea' fields are correctly labeled both in the HTML markup and also visually, with descriptive titles. They also contain sample text to aid identification by screen readers.
  • Our website is designed with a fluid layout that expands and contracts to suit various monitor sizes and screen resolutions. All content is clearly readable and visually accessible on a 14 inch monitor at 800 x 600 resolution. Likewise, all content is still perfectly readable and accessible on a 19 inch LCD monitor at 1280 x 1024.
  • All text font sizes are specified using relative units. This enables the user to change the text size to suit their own preference as explained on our Accessibility Help page.
  • Our website includes a 'site map' which gives an overall view of all our navigation links.

Accessibility - What's Next:

  • We are looking into the use of the HTML 'abbr' and 'acronym' elements to help describe the first instance of abbreviations and acronyms appearing on each page. However, there is some debate about the usefulness of these elements and we may provide a Web page 'glossary' instead.
  • A number of our associates will be attending accessibility and usability training courses.
  • We are building up our range of associates in order to include a wider range of disabilities and ages. This will provide us with a valuable resource to call upon for advice and assistance with accessibility & usability testing.
  • We are investing (hard cash!) in equipment (various accessibility input devices plus: pda's, mobile phones, Macintosh systems etc.) and software such as 'Jaws™'.
  • We are also studying the use of punctuation in relation to accessibility. We already use full stops for the end of list items, we may also start using them for headings too.
  • We have set up an additional service to help local community groups and small businesses to meet their accessibility requirements. This service offers accessibility, usability and compliance training and access to further resources. This allows us to pass on our existing knowledge and experience plus support for new developments as they occur. Hopefully, we are going some way to increasing awareness of accessibility issues and encouraging people to adopt accessible website design and management.
  • We will add more accessibility information, news articles and resources to our website as we go forward.
  • We will always respond and act on any suggestions made by our users.
Page section divider

Tel: 0161-707-7556   e-mail: Affordable Web Design Enquiries   Registered in England and Wales No: 4351257