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Accessibility

This section gives you instructions on how you can change the look of this site to make it easier to read. The instructions are different for the two main types of browser, Microsoft Explorer and Netscape Navigator. There are also special instructions if you are using a Macintosh computer. The help facility on the toolbar of the browsers also contains information to assist you.

» Assistance for Dyslexia
» Instructions for Microsoft Internet Explorer
» Instructions for Netscape Navigator
» Instructions for Macintosh computers
» Alternative ways to view Adobe Acrobat documents

Assistance for Dyslexia

To change the colours in Internet Explorer:

  1. In Internet Explorer go to Tools, Internet Options, Colors and uncheck "Use windows Colors"
  2. Then choose a background and a text color.
  3. Then go to Tools, Internet Options and Accessibility - and check "Ignore colors...."

Please remember to change the settings back if other people use the computer!

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Instructions for Microsoft Internet Explorer users

To change the font and colour settings you must firstly:

  1. Select Internet Options from the View OR the Tools menu - this will depend on your browser version.
  2. Select the Accesibility Option and click the three boxes displayed under formatting, so that they are now showing ticks.

    TIP: Most text on this site uses the Arial font, this sentence is in Comic Sans. Set your browser font to Comic Sans if you find it easier to read.

If you want to change the font:

  1. Select Internet Options from the View OR the Tools menu depending on your browser.
  2. Click on the Fonts button, choose your font from the drop-down menu under Web page font and click the OK button. Arial is one of the easiest fonts to read.

If you want to change the size of the text:

  1. Select Internet Options from the View OR the Tools menu depending on your browser.
  2. Click on the Accessibility button.
  3. Click the Ignore fonts now showing on web pages box so that it now shows a tick.
  4. Click OK.
  5. Click OK again to close Internet Options.
  6. Select the View option from the Menubar.
  7. Select the Text Size option, Choose your preferred text size.

TIP: The Scroll Wheel on new type Mouse often increase/decrease text size while holding down the Control key.

If you want to change the colour of the text or the background:

  1. Select Internet Options from the View OR the Tools menu depending on your browser.
  2. Click on the Colours button and untick the box next to Use Windows colours.
  3. To change the colour of the text, click on the button to the right of Text ,choose your colour from the palette and click OK.
  4. To change the colour of the background, click on the button to the right of Background, choose your colour from the palette and click OK.

If you want to remove the images:

  1. Select Internet Options from the View OR the Tools menu depending on your browser.
  2. Select the Advanced tab at the top right hand corner of the box.
  3. Scroll down to the Multimedia heading.
  4. Untick the box next to Show Pictures.
  5. Click on the Apply button and then click on the OK button.

For more information visit the Microsoft Help and Support site at:

http://support.microsoft.com/

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Instructions for Netscape Navigator4+ users

To change your browser settings, you must firstly:

  1. Select Edit from the Menu Bar.
  2. Select Preferences. You now have the option to make various changes.
  3. Select Appearance.
  4. Select Font. You can alter the Variable and Fixed width Font to your preferred option.

If you want to change the colour of the text or the background:

  1. Select Appearance.
  2. Select Colours.
  3. Select Text, choose your preferred colour and click on the OK button.
  4. Select Background, choose your prefered colour and click on the OK button.
  5. Click OK again to close the Preferences option.

If you want to remove the images:

  1. Select the Edit option from the Menu Bar.
  2. Select the Preferences option.
  3. Select Text, choose your preferred colour and click on the OK button.
  4. Select the Advanced option.
  5. Untick the box next to Automatically load Images and Click OK.

For more information visit Netscape Browser Central at:

http://browsers.netscape.com/browsers/using/

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Instructions for Macintosh users

There are full instructions on making use of the various versions of the Macintosh operating system's accessibility features. These include resizing text, text-to-speech function and keyboard alternatives to mouse functions.

For more information visit the Apple website's section for special needs:

http://www.apple.com/disability/

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Alternative ways to view Adobe Acrobat documents

This site uses Adobe Acrobat to display certain documents. If your screen reader software (for example an audio-enabled web browser) is not compatible with the free Adobe Acrobat Reader, Adobe provide a free online tool which converts the content of PDF files to a format which can be understood by most screen reader applications.

The URL of the document can be submitted either via e-mail or web form, and the content is returned, converted either to HTML (i.e. standard web page format) or to plain text. Alternatively, the document the user wishes to read can be e-mailed as an attachment.

For more information, and full details of how to use this tool, visit:

http://www.adobe.com/products/acrobat/access_onlinetools.html

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