hPASS is committed to providing you with a website that is accessible to the widest possible audiences.

Summary: Information about the hpass.co.uk site, how to change how it looks and tips for people using screen readers.

•  Using the site

•  Where to start

•  Search Tips

•  How the site is built for accessibility

•  Accessibility Barriers

•  Contact Us

Using the Site

We have aimed to create sites that are available to everyone including those with sight, audio and motor impairment restrictions.

•  We aim to use a web font so all text is easy to read.

•  We have appropriate alt tags for images to convey information.

•  We ensure that navigation through our website works in a consistent way.

•  We do not rely on just colour as the only way of giving information.

•  We avoid the use of images of text wherever possible, and provide equivalent text links that consist of images.

Here are a few helpful ways in which you can start using the website more easily.

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To enlarge text on the site

•  On the browser Tools menu select 'Internet Options'

•  On the General tab, select 'Accessibility'

•  Tick the 'Ignore font sizes specified on web pages' check box

•  Click on 'OK'

•  On the browser menu select 'view'

•  Click 'text size'

•  Choose the size of text

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To change text and/or colour on the site

•  On the browser Tools menu select 'Internet Options'

•  On the General tab, select 'Colour'

•  Deselect the 'Use Windows Colours' tick box

•  Select the box next to 'Text' and choose a colour

•  Click on 'OK'

•  Select the box next to 'Background' and choose a colour

•  Click on 'OK'

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To change the size of the window of the site

On the browser View menu select 'Full screen' or press F11

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To change the colour of links displayed on a screen

•  On the browser Tools menu select 'Internet Options'

•  On the General tab, select 'Accessibility'

•  Click on 'Select ignore colours specified on Web pages' (should contain a tick) - Click 'OK'

•  Select 'General' tab and click on 'Colour

•  Turn off the 'Use hover colours' tick box (should not contain a tick)

•  Select 'Visited' and choose the colour that suits you best, Click OK

•  Select 'Not Visited' and choose the colour that suits you best, Click OK

•  Select 'OK' for 'Colours'

•  Select 'OK' for 'Internet Options'

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Where to start

Use the sitemap to get an overview of what is on the site

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Search Tips

A search box appears at the top of each page. To get the best results follow these tips:

Use keywords - the search won't work well using natural language, keywords will find better results. Use quotes to search for an exact phrase

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How the Site is built for Accessibility

Standards

All pages on this site are WCAG AA approved, complying with all priority 1 and 2 guidelines of the W3C Web Content Accessibility Guidelines. Whilst we would like to say this is categorically so it is a judgement call; many guidelines are intentionally vague and cannot be tested automatically. We have reviewed all the guidelines and believe that all these pages are compliant.

We have strived to make all pages on this site validate as XHTML 1.0 Strict.

Layout

The site uses Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) to control all of the presentation and layout. Tables are only used for data presentation.

As a result screen reader users can use the screen reader's navigation key to get around the site. If you are listening to the site, menus are grouped together in a more logical fashion.

Content

The content has been written and formatted to make it accessible. For example:

•  Headings highlight sections of text

•  Sentences are short with the meaning at the beginning

•  Links use meaningful text

•  Forms can be navigated using the tab key.

Access Keys

A limited range of access keys have been implemented on the hpass.co.uk site to allow you to navigate around the site without using a mouse.

They can be used to jump directly to different sections of the site or certain areas within a page, without having to move your mouse at all.

How to use Access Keys in your Browser

Please note that some assisted technology tools such as the IBM HomePage Reader and WindowEyes already make use of the alt+[access key] combinations. As such, users of these tools will not be able to use these access keys.

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Accessibility Barriers

Through research of standard guidelines, hpass.co.uk are continually working to improve the accessibility of our sites that we have, in the meantime should you experience any difficulties please contact us explaining the problems you encountered.

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Contact

If you are experiencing difficulties accessing the site or have any comments please do not hesitate to contact the IT Department on 0845 26 96 106 between 9:00am -5.00pm (Monday – Friday).

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