Using our website
This page describes the design rules we have followed in order to make our site
as easy to use as possible for everyone.
Accessibility standards
GuideStar UK has worked closely with the Royal National Institute of the Blind
to attain their 'See it Right' standards. This indicates that, in RNIB's
opinion, it offers a good standard of accessibility to most users.
All pages on www.guidestar.org.uk adhere to Conformance Level "A" of the Web
Content Accessibility Guidelines. The majority of pages achieve a Conformance
Level "Double-A" or "Triple-A".
Navigation
Hidden menus that can be read by screen readers have been included at the
beginning of every page.
A hidden link has also been provided at the beginning of every page to provide
easy access to information on accessibility.
Headings & menus
HTML heading tags are used throughout to convey document structure. H1 tags are
used for main titles, H2 tags for subtitles and so on.
All menus are displayed as HTML lists. This is to ensure that the number of
links in the list will be read out at the start and that the list can easily be
skipped.
Images
All images used in this site, except those that are purely decorative, include
descriptive HTML alt tags.
Font size
Most of the fonts used on the site are sizable. You can use your browser
settings to change font sizes as follows:
-
In Internet Explorer; select VIEW, then TEXT SIZE, and then the size you want.
-
In Netscape; select VIEW, then TEXT ZOOM, and then the percentage size you
want.
Colours
Colour combinations have been chosen to ensure that text is easy to read.
If you wish to override the site's colours, you can do this by changing your
browser settings.
Stylesheets
The site uses cascading style sheets for all visual layout. If your browser or
browsing device does not support stylesheets, the use of structured semantic
mark-up will still ensure that the content and structure of each page is clear.
How to apply your own stylesheet;
Internet Explorer:
-
select TOOLS, then INTERNET OPTIONS, then ACCESSIBILITY,
-
next click on any or all 3 checkboxes to ignore colours, font styles or font
sizes,
-
in the same window you can change your style sheet by clicking the checkbox
that says, 'format document using my style sheet' then browse to your style
sheet and click OK.
In Netscape;
-
select EDIT, then PREFERENCES and then APPEARANCE,
you will be given the choice to specify your own colours and fonts.
Tables
Most data tables contain designated header cells so that screen readers can
accurately render their contents. Table summaries and captions are also
included where appropriate.
These attributes are not applied where HTML tables are used solely for layout.
Forms & fields
We have ensured that tab key navigation of form fields follows a logical
sequence.
Most form fields also have HTML label and id attributes explicitly associating
each field with its label.
JavaScript
Javascript has been used only sparingly - and no page is dependent on Javascript
being enabled in your browser.
Links
All links are as self-explanatory as possible. Where appropriate, we have also
added HTML title attributes to provide greater detail.
These also state whether a link will open a new browser window, email or
document.
Copy
Abbreviation, title and acronym tags have been used to ensure that
abbreviations, acronyms and technical terms are accompanied by a full textual
explanation.
Blockquotes are used only to identify quotations.