Accessibility
Sections of this document:
Overall Accessibility Statement
The site's layout takes into account users who are blind or
visually impaired. It is compatible with popular screen
reading software. If you have difficulties using a mouse, the
site can be navigated using only a keyboard.
In technical language, all pages on this site should
be valid to Extensible Hyper Text Mark-up Language (XHTML) 1.0
Strict and use Cascading Style Sheets (CSS). This website
conforms to the Guidelines for
UK Government websites and
supports the Worldwide Web Consortium's (W3C)
Web Content Accessibility
Guidelines 1.0, Level A, to ensure a Web accessibility standard
has been achieved and is maintained. In reaching this
conclusion we have used automated testing where this is
appropriate, as well as feedback from user testing by our Access
Group.
EXCEPTION: This Accessibility Statement does
not cover pages where the functionality relies on image delivery
(for example, the mapping interfaces within our coastal assets,
industrial estates and water quality databases). Neither does it
necessarily apply to our services which are hosted by third parties
(for example, parking fine payments, business directory,
roadworks).
General Considerations
Havant Borough Council recognises
its responsibilities under the Disability Discrimination
Act and understands that goods and services must be offered on
equal terms to all in the community. The Council sees the use of
the internet as being a key means for disabled users to obtain
information and be involved in their local community. Our plans for
electronic service delivery are described in our Implementing
E-Government Statement.
Accesskeys
We have implemented the
UK Government access keys
standard. Access keys are keyboard shortcuts which allow a user to
navigate a web site without using a mouse or other pointing device.
This can sometimes be quicker and may assist those with motor skill
difficulties. We use the following access keys which are
standardised across Government web sites:
- 1 - Home Page
- 2 - What's New
- 3 - Site Map
- 4 - Search
- 5 - not used
- 6 - Help
- 7 - Complaints
- 8 - Terms and Conditions
- 9 - Feedback Form
- 0 - Access key list (this page)
- S - Skip menus (go straight to page content)
To use an access key:
Specific accessibility features on this web site
The following is a list of some of the actions we have already
taken in order to improve accessibility of the Havant website:
- Provision of downloadable screen magnification software
designed by WorksUnit of Southampton
- Let this web site read itself to you using the 'BrowseAloud' system
>>
- Use 'skip menu' feature to bypass the menu structure of a page
and go straight to the content.
- Use 'text only' mode, which makes our site accessible to
all current browsers
- Link to the Adobe Acrobat Access reader for PDF Adobe Acrobat files.
- Increase contrast between background and text for readability
purposes;
- Change text colours;
- Change background colours.
- Ensuring that online forms can be navigated in order
by pressing 'Tab' in a keyboard.
Please let us know of any
accessibility issues you encounter whilst using our web site by
sending an email to
webmaster@havant.gov.uk.
Resources for users of assistive software or requiring other
support
We have designed our pages to be accessible but recognise that
at the moment we may not have got everything right. If
you have problems with accessing some of our pages try the 'text
only' version which is designed to the highest accessibility
standards.
For more information on
assistive software,
and hardware adjustments available, we recommend the
website run by
AbilityNet, a charity that brings the benefits of computer
technology to adults and children with disabilities.
We have checked the design of our site using
the '
Bobby' checker. 'Bobby' is an
automatic
HTML
checker which was created by CAST (Center for Applied Special
Technology) to help Web page authors identify and repair
significant barriers to access by users with disabilities.
We are pleased to give you the ability to have this web site
read itself to you. Follow the link to access the once-only
download you will need to make this feature work on your computer.
There are no security issues in using this software, which is free
of charge to download (approximately 5 minutes at normal dial-up
modem speed, less if you use broadband).
Link to
BrowseAloud >>
We are pleased to offer a free download of WorksView screen
magnification software designed by WorksUnit of Southampton, UK.
Full details of what this product can do, and a download link,
are available through
this link. We regret that currently this software only works
with Internet Explorer browsers.
We have checked our page designs using the automated colour
blindness checker at
Vischeck's website.
We have used
PDF (portable document format)
to deliver some content on this website. We recognise
that the use of
PDF can cause problems for
assistive software, and so we offer a link to the
Access Adobe website where you can
download for free a program which will convert
PDF documents to
HTML or plain
text. We also offer users a direct link to
Adobe's
on-line converter which saves having to download the Access
Adobe program; this allows you to enter the
URL of
a
PDF document
into an on-line form and just that document will be
converted.
Changing the settings on your browser
There are many features built into modern web browsers which
allow personal preferences to be set - for example the adjustment
of colours and text size. These features can usually be found by
asking for 'Help' in your browser program and entering the phrase
'accessibility'.
The BBC's 'My Web My Way' web site has full details on the
ways different browsers can be adjusted to ensure that sites you
read are more accessible. Changes applied through your
browser will affect ALL websites that you subsequently view.