Website accessibility features
Details of the accessibility features which have been incorporated within the Richmondshire Council Web site.
The Richmondshire Council Website has been designed and developed to provide users with a more enjoyable interactive experience of the organisation. The new site is designed to be inclusive and to provide access to all users regardless of technological or physical disability.
The following highlights some of the initiatives designed to make the Web site interface and content more usable and accessible.
Overall framework and interface
The overall Web site has been designed to provide users with a seamless view and user experience of the council.
The framework and interface has been designed to provide a consistent structure throughout the Web site, so users will know exactly where to find navigation, content and important functionality and information.
The structure of the interface is broken down as follows:
- Top bar – This includes the Richmondshire Council branding, accessibility links and breadcrumb links. All these features are accessible from every page within the Web site.
- Left panel – This contains the main navigation system and links, which provide access to the key areas and content of the Web site. Clicking on a top-level navigation link takes you to a section homepage and the navigation bar also expands to show sub-level categories. The architecture of the site is designed so key content t can be accessed within 3 clicks.
- Content area – The central content area updates to present the page of content that has been selected.
- Right panel – This provides access to the site search engine and items of content, which are related to the page of content you are viewing. Related items include links to internal pages, related news, external Web sites and document downloads including PDF,s and Word. All links to external Web sites and documents open in a separate window.
- Footer – This contains links to privacy information and other statements.
Access keys
Most browsers support access key functionality, which provide access to key parts of the Web site interface. To use access keys follow the following guidelines:
- For Windows users, you can press "ALT" plus the listed access key
- For Macintosh users, you can press "Control" plus the listed access key
- Pressing "Enter" will then take you to the page.
We have included the standard recommended access keys, which include:
S = Skip Navigation
1 = Home
2 = What's new
3 = Site Map
4 = Search
5 = Frequently asked questions
6 = Help
7 = Complaints procedure
8 = Terms and conditions
9 = Feedback
0 = Accessibility details
Tab indexing
Tab indexing is designed to make tabbing through the site easier but also to provide users with access to the Web site by using the keyboard only.
The tab order of information within the framework interface is as follows:
- Accessibility links (Top bar)
- Search
- Main navigation (Left bar)
- Central content
- Features (Right bar)
- Related links (Right bar)
- Footer (Bottom bar)
The interface of the Web site contains a number of skip keys which enable users to skip different content items within the page. The skip order is as follows:
Pressing "alt + s" on your keyboard at any time while on a page, will take you to the first skip anchor point - "Skip Access tools", then by pressing return while on this skip point it will jump you to the next consecutive skip point location.
The skip points are as follows:
* Skip Access tools
* Skip breadcrumb
* Skip main navigation
* Skip main content
* and the final location, Search content
High contrast options
Changing text size
Within the top of the interface there is a tool which enables you can change the text size within the page.
Text only version
As well as making all graphic templates accessible to W3C priority 3, we have also included a text only option, which enables all users to view all of the Web site pages in high contrast and without graphics and pictures.
W3C Compliance
The Richmondshire Council Web site has been designed to comply with the guidelines issued by W3C/WAI. All templates meet priority 3 (AAA) guidelines of the W3C Web Content Accessibility Guidelines, which is the highest level of conformance that can be achieved.
All templates have been Bobby approved to priority 3 (AAA) and all warnings identified by Bobby have been manually checked for conformance.
Assistive technology
Users with disabilities use assistive technology to aid with the use of a Web site and to increase the overall user experience and the ability to complete tasks that would not be achievable otherwise.
As part of the development process the Web site has been tested using the following technology:
- Screen readers
- Text only browsers
- Screen magnifiers
If you experience any problems using these tools or have any recommendations to improve accessibility using assistive technology please contact us, with your feedback and we'll do our best to make improvements.
Downloading and viewing pdf files
You need Acrobat Reader software to view Adobe Acrobat PDF files. If you do not have the software installed on your computer, you can download it for free at
Acrobat Reader.
Hints if you're using access technology
Hints for downloading Acrobat files
There are two ways to download PDFs, First, right click on the PDF link, select 'save target as' from the pop-up menu, download to your hard disk. Or, open the PDF, click on the save icon on the Acrobat toolbar, download to hard disk.
All links to PDF's open in a new window.
Visual design
- Colours – We have tried to use colours throughout the Web site that provide maximum contrast between foreground and background items and also various features on the page including headers, body text and hyperlinks.
- Images – All interface graphics and images throughout the Web site have been assigned an Alt-text attribute, which describes the contents or function of the item.
- Hyperlinks – We have chosen the standard hyperlink blue colour for all active hyperlink text items, as this is the most accessible and recognisable standard for link items. All visited hyperlinks are shown in the standard dark purple colour
- CSS – Style-sheets have been used for all visual items and text. This means that you can change the text size from within the browser by selecting "View" and then "Text size".
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