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DIUS Website Accessibility Statement

What is website accessibility?

Web accessibility is the practice of making website content available to all users, particularly those with disabilities, including visual, auditory, physical, speech, cognitive, and neurological disabilities. It includes making a website as accessible as possible regardless of browsing technology, such as for people with text-only web browsers and old browser versions.

DIUS' commitment to web accessibility

DIUS is committed to making its website accessible to as many people as possible. To this end we are endeavouring to meet all AA accessibility checkpoints as defined by the World Wide Web Consortium's (W3C) Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI).

Some of the measures we have taken to ensure our site is accessible include:

  • Our website uses relative font sizes to enable users to change the size of text on the page;
  • We use alternative text for all images on our website;
  • All our web pages use valid XHTML;
  • Our website is available in standard and monotone colours;
  • We provide text-only versions for all Powerpoint documents available from our website;
  • We conduct regular validation checks to ensure the HTML code of our web pages is valid;
  • We run regular spot checks of our pages against accessibility testing tools;
  • We perform periodic audits of our site against WAI Priority 1 and 2 checkpoints and fix any errors.

Compliance with web accessibility is an ongoing process which we are regularly working to improve. Being a new government Department, our content is currently spread across several different websites. In view of this, there may be some content which does not yet meet all the guidelines. If you experience problems accessing any of the information on our site, please contact our web team at website.manager@dius.gov.uk and we will try our best to fix the problem or provide the information in an alternative format.

How do I change the text size and screen resolution?

Depending on which web browser you are using, this can be done in the following ways:

  • Internet Explorer: select View > Text size
  • Mozilla Firefox: select View > Text size
  • Opera: select View > Zoom
  • Safari: select View > Make text bigger
  • Netscape: select View > Text size

Alternatively you can change the resolution of your computer screen to make the entire screen display bigger or smaller. Depending on which sort of computer you are using, this can be done in the following ways:

  • Microsoft Windows computer: select Start > Control Panel > Display > Settings
  • Apple Macintosh computer: select System Preferences > Displays > Resolution

How do I change the colours?

The DIUS website enables you to toggle between Standard and Monotone colours. You can do this by clicking on the appropriate link at the bottom of every page.

Alternatively, you can use your web browser options to choose your own colours. Depending on which web browser you are using, this can be done in the following ways:

  • Internet Explorer: select Tools > Internet Options > General > Colors
  • Mozilla Firefox: select Tools > Options > Content > Colors
  • Opera: select Tools > Preferences > Fonts and Page Style
  • Safari: select Safari > Preferences > Appearance
  • Netscape: select Tools > Options > General > Fonts & colors

How do I change speed and buttons on my mouse?

If you are using a Microsoft Windows computer, you can change a number of control options on your mouse, including the speed of the pointer or the wheel, how quickly you need to double-click, and swapping the buttons for left and right-handed use.

To change your mouse options click the Start button in the bottom left of your screen and select Control Panel > Mouse.

If you are using an Apple Macintosh computer, please visit the Apple Accessibility website for more information on how to change your settings.

Can I navigate the website using my keyboard rather than a mouse?

Opinion is divided on whether access keys (keyboard shortcuts) help or hinder users when navigating a website. Until best practice on use of access keys emerges, we have chosen not to implement them on the DIUS website.

However, it is still possible to navigate our website using your keyboard. This can be done using the following keys:

  • Arrow keys to scroll up or down the page;
  • Tab key to move between links;
  • Return or Enter key to select a link;
  • Backspace key to go back to the previous page.

PDF accessibility

If you are having trouble reading a PDF document on this website, Adobe offers a free online tool for converting PDF documents to HTML or text. To use the tool you will need to know the URL (web address) of the document you want to convert. This can be found in the browser address bar at the top of the screen and begins with http://