Accessibility:

How to use this website:

This website is designed to be easy to use.  However it may be helpful to you if we explain how we designed its structure.  The site is built around 11 topic themes or sections. These themes are:

News, Contacting Us area, Online reporting of Repairs, Help [which also includes Useful Links and Legal Notices], Site Map, Corporate Area, Housing Services, The Building Company area, Finance area, Recruitment, and pages dedicated to Aksa.

They are also given in the section called 'Finding your way around the site' further below the page.  

To aid navigation, we have a 'breadcrumb trail' which shows you the section and the subsequent folders/subfolders and the ultimate pages you have viewed.  Simply click on any of these items to return to that page or theme. 

Browsing

There are various ways of finding information on this website - some of them are features with links on each page, others are general techniques which you can use on other websites.

If you are not sure exactly what you are looking for or would like to see the scope of the website in broad subject areas use our main menu on the top of each page. You can browse for items of interest and/or use the breadcrumb trail.

There is also a site map that has all the pages on the site in one hierarchical list under the main subject categories which you can browse and select from.

Using the mouse

As you move the mouse around - the cursor - an arrow - will also move around the page. When it rests on text that links to more information it will turn into a pointing hand. When it does you can left click on the mouse and the link will open.

Using the keyboard

If you have difficulty with, or prefer not to use, the mouse, or are using a laptop, you can move around the site with the enter and tab keys.The tab key will take you to each link on the page in turn starting from the top left to the bottom right. When you reach the link you want to open press enter. If you get to the last one and want to start again keep pressing tab. If you want to go back press shift and tab.

You can also use our 'access keys.'

Scrolling

Some pages will have information off the screen than can be viewed by scrolling down - this page is a good example.The vertical bar on the right is the scroll bar.You can move the page by holding the cursor on the bar and moving it up and down or by clicking on the top or bottom arrow and holding it until you reach the right place.

Finding your way around the site

On the left hand side of every page is a menu which lists the section you are in and the categories within that section. These categories can be clicked on to view information. To assist you with moving back and forth between the pages a 'bread crumb' menu is displayed at the top of the navigation so you can see the path you have followed to reach your destination and use it to revisit previous pages, (or you may prefer to use your web browser's back button).

The information in the site is divided up into 11 main themes or sections. These are:

News, Contacting Us area, Online reporting of Repairs, Help [which also includes Useful Links and Legal Notices], Site Map, Corporate Area, Housing Services, The Building Company area, Finance area, Recruitment, and pages dedicated to Aksa.

There are different ways that you can find information on this web site:

The home page
This is the starting point of any website and a good place to begin browsing the site for information. The web address (also called the URL) of Newcharter is http://www.newcharter.co.uk/ and when you click on this web address, it is the homepage that will display on your screen.

Once you start to look at different parts of the site, if you want to return to the homepage, just click on the 'Home' link at the top of the navigation or click on the NewCharter logo in the top left hand corner.


Accessibility features that we use and those that we do not:

Images
We apply meaningful alternative text to all images - this is useful if you view the website with a text browser or have a visual impairment

Colour contrasts
All pages on this website have a white background and the primary text is black

Reliance on colour
We use colour to give a more useful user experience; however, we do not rely on colour to highlight or identify the content.

Plain Language
We try to use plain language throughout the site.

Links
All links are highlighted and should work when read out of context.

Frames/Animated and/or Moving images
We do not use any of the above as they create problems rather than enhancing user experience.

Adobe Acrobat
We use Adobe Acrobat to create pdf documents.   A link to the Adobe Acrobat website and the free software download is also provided.

Browsers
Our site is checked in a variety of browsers (both modern and old versions) to ensure that we cater for as wide a range of audience as possible

Screen Resolution
The site is best viewed with a screen resolution of 800 x 600 and above;  and in Internet Explorer version 4 and above and/or any version of FireFox.

Online Forms
Our forms all have labels attached to the fields that ensures that the purpose of a field is read out to visitors with a visual impairment.
Mandatory fields are identified with a red asterisk. [*]
Visitors who are unable to use a mouse can use the "tab" key to move throughout the fields of a form.

External Links
All external website are identified  clearly and will open in a new window.