Ask SID - Salford Information Directory

Site accessibility

The creators of Ask SID - Salford Information Directory recognises and values the provision of information on this web site in a format which is accessible to all, regardless of ability or disability.

What is an accessible web site?

An accessible site is one that accommodates the full range of users. Designing for accessibility therefore means accepting that, for online information, there is:

  • no standard information user, and,
  • no standard device for browsing information

An accessible web site does not exclude anybody due to:

  • their abilities, or
  • the method they choose to access the web

Accessible web sites prioritise clear content, structure and ease of navigation over frilly aspects of design, however they also need not be visually unattractive, nor are they prevented from using the latest web technologies, provided that all information is still accessible to users.

The web: access and inclusion for disabled people

The results of a formal investigation by the Disability Rights Commission, published April 2004, showed that more than 80% of web sites are difficult for disabled people to use. More information.

Is the text on your screen too large or too small?

Our default text size is approximately 12 points. You may find that on your screen the text is either too large or too small for your personal needs.

To increase or decrease the text size, use the Text Size setting in the Internet Explorer View menu (at the top of the screen). The default setting is Medium.

In browsers other than Internet Explorer, there will be a similar setting. For example, in Netscape versions 6 and above the option is called 'Text Zoom'.

How we make our site accessible

Valid XHTML 1.0 We ensure as much as possible that the language used to write our web pages, XHTML, is valid. Most pages on the site will successfully pass tests by online validators such as the one at http://validator.w3.org/. Unfortunately, due to the advanced way the site is programmed, it is possible some elements of our pages may not validate. These issues will be rectified upon the next release of the ASP.NET system from Microsoft, due in mid 2005. The issues will not affect the accessibility and usability of the site in the meantime.

Valid Cascading Style Sheets In order to ensure a consistent user experience for visitors to the site, we use what are known as cascading style sheets (CSS for short) to control the appearance of the site. CSS enables us to enforce a corporate look-and-feel to our web site which ensures that a consistent font typeface, use of colour and optimum text sizes are the order of the day.

W3C-WAI Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 1.0, Level AA conformance We have made every effort to ensure that this site meets Level AA conformance of the W3C-WAI Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 1.0 on every page. However, as stated above, there may be some occasions where this does not happen due to issues with our development system. Again, these issues will be rectified upon the next release of the ASP.NET software.

Text only version

A text only version of this web site is available. To access the text only content, simply click on the 'Text only version' link which appears in the upper left hand corner of every web page. Once in the text only version, the site can be fully navigated using the marked hyperlinks. Click the 'Full graphics version' link at the top of any page to return to the full version of the site.

Printer friendly version

We have developed the site so that when you find a page you wish to print out, only the page content will be printed rather than the site navigation options and graphical layout. The layout of the site is important for on-screen operations only so when a printed version is requested we remove these unnecesary items.