Download our accessiblity policy PDF 51KB
Introduction
The National Skills Academy for IT is dedicated in providing a website that is accessible to all. People access the web in many different ways and we encourage all our web designers, developers and editors to consider all audiences irrespective of disability, capability or technology.
If you experience any problems or have any feedback about it please
e-mail the website editor
Accessibility standards
The National Skills Academy for IT uses and supports the following standards:-
Accessibility features
Cascading Style Sheets (CSS)
The site uses Cascading Style Sheets (CSS), which control the style and arrangement of the information on the site such as fonts, margins, colours and borders.
Disabling stylesheets will only affect the design and presentation of content – no actual information will be lost.
XHTML
XHTML is designed to allow richer web pages to display on various browser platforms, including mobile phones and tablets.
The XHTML tags used on this site also provide additional information about structural items. These tags are often hidden in visual browsers but provide valuable information to non-visual browsers.
JavaScript
Parts of this site use JavaScript and JQuery to improve site design, enable user–interaction and validate forms. Wherever JavaScript is used, it has been carefully considered and implemented so that it does not affect the accessibility.
Navigating the site
The information architecture of the site has been carefully considered to provide optimum navigation.
Use the top navigation to see which area of the site you are currently viewing. The area will be highlighted on the navigation bar as well as breadcrumbs showing the full path to the page.
Text and size
Most navigation elements used on this site are displayed in plain text. Whenever graphics are used, we have provided text alternatives.
If you would like to increase the size of the text, go to ‘View’ in the browser’s main menu. From here depending on your browser there should be an option to zoom or change the font size.
Instructions
Internet Explorer 9
1. Click the cog icon and choose Internet Options
2. Select Fonts or Colors button depending on which options you wish to change
3. For more accessibility options, choose Accessibility
4. If you wish to zoom into a webpage, choose the cog icon and select Zoom from the menu. Then select a zoom size.
Internet Explorer 8
1. Click Tools then Internet Options from the menu
2. Select Fonts or Colors button depending on which options you wish to change
3. For more accessibility options, choose Accessibility
4. If you wish to zoom into a webpage, click the Magnifying glass icon at the bottom right corner of the Internet Explorer window.
Firefox 4 on Windows
1. Click the Firefox menu button on the top left of the Firefox window.
2. Select Options, then Options again.
3. Under the Fonts and Colors section, select the font, colour and size.
Firefox 4 on Mac
1. Click Firefox in the Mac menu bar
2. Select Preferences
3. Select Content
4. Under the Fonts and Colors section, select the font, colour and size.
Firefox 3 on Windows
1. Click Tools > Options > Content > Fonts and Colors
2. Choose a font, colour of font and size.
Firefox 3 on Linux
1. Click View on the menu bar
2. Select Text Size
3. Increase or decrease the text size by selecting the relevant option
4. To change the font type and colour, select the Edit menu and Preferences then Content
5. Under the Fonts and Colors section, select the font, colour and size.
Google Chrome 10 on Windows, Mac and Linux
1. Click the wrench icon
2. Select Options
3. Click Under the bonnet
4. Under Web Content, select a font, size and colour
5. If you wish to change the zoom size, click the wrench icon and use the + and – buttons to increase/decrease the zoom size.
Browser choice
To get the best experience we suggest you use a standards-compliant browser that supports web standards including CSS, xHTML and theDOM.
These are our recommended browsers:
- Microsoft Internet Explorer 8 and 9
- Google Chrome 9 and 10
- Mozilla Firefox 3 and 4
Bandwidth considerations
We have made sure that this website is as bandwidth-friendly as possible. However, we recommend that you access this site with a fast connection to the internet especially when accessing e-learning or interactive content.
e-learning accessibility
After you select and launch a course, the Options dialog box appears. This dialog box presents several options for playing a course which are described in the following table:
Screen Reader Course Play
Select this option if you are using a screen reader.
SkillSoft Course audio files and animations are automatically disabled.
Note: Screen Reader must support the Sun Java Accessibility Bridge. As JAWS is currently the industry’s predominant screen reader that supports Java, this guide contains configuration requirements specific for JAWS.
Non-Animation Course Play
Select this option if you require that animations be disabled.
Enhanced Keyboard Course Play
Select this option if you are using keyboard versus a mouse or assistive technology that uses keyboard commands. This option also provides hints on how to perform keyboard shortcuts on assessment and test pages (for example, Ctrl-N to pick up). These keyboard hints appear in pop-ups but the pop-up must be closed before you can proceed with the assessment. Use Shift-Ctrl-K to open the pop-up.
Screen reader setup
You must ensure that your system is configured with the following software:
- JAWS 6.0, 6.2, 7.10 (client or network). 7.10 is recommended.
- JRE 1.4.2 or higher. JRE 1.5 is recommended.
- Sun Java Accessibility Bridge 1.2 or higher. 2.0.1 is recommended.
We are currently supporting only the Internet Explorer Browser for screen reader support.
Accessibility tools
- Lynx, a free text-only web browser for blind users with refreshable Braille displays
- Links, a free text-only web browser for visual users with low bandwidth
§ JAWS, a screen reader for Windows