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Accessibility
Kaplan Open Learning Website Accessibility Policy
Kaplan Open Learning is endeavoring to make its website as accessible as possible to all, in line with recommendations issued by the Web standards body, World Wide Web Consortium (W3C).
For more information about W3C go to http://www.w3.org/
Complying with accessibility guidelines generates benefits for all users. Page download times are quicker, information is structured in a usable manner and the site is be accessible across a range of platforms and browsers including Macintosh and Windows.
Some quick facts:
- Over 1.7 million people in the UK are blind or partially sighted.
- The Disability Discrimination Act makes it unlawful for a service provider to discriminate against a disabled person.
- Under the Act service providers are required to make 'reasonable adjustments' to their services so that disabled people can access them.
- Accessibility technology exists to allow people without sight to use computers, using speech synthesis and braille displays.
W3C Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 1.0
The Kaplan Open Learning website aims to support blind or partially sighted users by complying with conformance level Triple-A of the W3C Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 1.0 including all Priority 1, Priority 2, and Priority 3 checkpoints. The Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) are part of a series of Web accessibility guidelines published by the W3C's Web Accessibility Initiative. They consist of a set of guidelines on making content accessible primarily to support user with a range of visual impairment including blind and partially sighted.
For more information about the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 1.0 go to http://www.w3.org/TR/WAI-WEBCONTENT/
W3C XHTML Validation 1.0 & CSS Validation
The Kaplan Open Learning website is compliant with W3C XHTML Validation 1.0 and CSS Validation. Validation is a process of checking web page documents against a formal Standard, such as those published by the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) for HTML and XML-derived web document types.
Why is validation important?
In practice, different browsers can and do display the same page very differently. It is one of the principal strengths of the web, that (for example) a visually impaired user can select very large print or text-to-speech without a publisher having to go to the trouble and expense of preparing a separate edition. Validation is about improving usability and ensuring that the best possible experience is provided whatever platform or browsers is used.
For more information about W3C XHTML Validation 1.0 http://validator.w3.org/about.html
For more information about CSS Validation go to http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-CSS1
Use of Cascading Style Sheets (CSS)
The Kaplan Open Learning website is built using Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) to enhance site presentation and usability.
What are the benefits?
- Users have finer and more predictable control over presentation
- Users with older browsers can still see your pages
- Users with disabilities have better access to pages
Controlling the Site for Accessibility
- AAA Buttons: If you have a visual impairment or dyslexia you can use the 'A' buttons at the top right hand corner of every page to increase the size of the text on the page.
- Browser Options: You may also find making changes to your web browser settings help you use this web site. You can change the options in your browser to adjust the size of the text, the colour of the text and the colour of the background. To set Internet Explorer to ignore the colours and fonts used in web sites, first go to the 'Tools' menu and choose 'Internet Options'. Then click on the 'Accessibility' button, then tick the 'ignore colours', 'ignore font styles' and 'ignore font sizes' boxes. Then click OK to apply the settings. Within Firefox and Mozilla to change just the size of text go to 'View - text size' and increase or decrease the text size accordingly.
- Alt text: All images that are used to illustrate content include the alt attribute to provide descriptive text alternatives.
- Link Titles: A title attribute has been added to links which describe the link in greater detail. If the text of the link provides a clear explanation of the 'target' then the title attribute has not been used.
- Javascript: The site does not rely on client-side scripting. There are no popup windows, or client-side form validation.
- Site Presentation Versions: To enhance the visitor’s usability and experience our site provides for text, graphical and print friendly versions. The text version is particularly useful for those visitors with visual impairment.
- Browser Compatibility: We test all our sites in all modern browsers including Internet Explore, Firefox, Mozilla and Opera. All pages on this site use structured semantic markup which means that if your browser or browsing device does not support stylesheets, the content of each page is still readable and is presented in a logical order.
Useful External links
Royal National Institute for the Blind (RNIB)
Charity offering general information, advice and guidance for people with sight problems.
British Dyslexia Association
Aims to influence government and other institutions to promote a dyslexia friendly society.
Action for Blind People
http://www.actionforblindpeople.org.uk
Lots of information about issues relating to sight loss and accessibility
