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spacer image light_green_arrow   Accessibilty
spacer image   arrow_small_blue spacer image Introduction
spacer image   arrow_small_blue spacer image How to use this
spacer image website
spacer image   arrow_small_blue spacer image Access Keys
spacer image   arrow_small_blue spacer image Practical Help
spacer image   arrow_small_blue spacer image Using PDF files
spacer image   arrow_small_blue spacer image Accessibilty-related
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spacer image   arrow_small_blue spacer image Feedback
       
       
       

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Accessibility:

Introduction:

 

New Charter Housing Trust is committed to ensuring its website is accessible to all our customers.  Our website has been designed with a number of accessibility features.   Moreover, we constantly strive to improve the site in line with UK-recognised accessibility guidelines.

We also try make the site conform to to the highest possible levels of accessibility in respect of coding, plain language, navigation and user experience.

This page contains information on facilities available from the site including methods of navigation and links to sites giving accessibility advice,  plus details about accesskeys and advice on browser accessibility options.

This page is available from every page on the New Charter Housing Trust Group's web site.

We aim to give our users and visitors to the site a pleasant experience, free from obstacles. Creating innovative, exciting, and user-friendly sites is a process that is not only governed by acceptable UK standards, but also by common sense.

It is for this reason that we have provided a feedback form for you to let us know of your ideas on how to improve the site still further.


About the Site

The New Charter Housing Trust Group's Website provides a comprehensive source of information about the Group and it's services. Whilst the website has been designed to be as accessible to as many users as possible, the pages have been optimised to be best viewed with your screen resolution set to 800x600 pixels and using browsers versions 4 or above (Internet Explorer & Netscape Navigator). To get the best from the colour images contained on these pages we recommend you view with a colour depth greater than 256 colours.

Using the Site

Navigation across the website is consistent - all related links are displayed in the navigation bars at the top, bottom, and on the left hand side of every page.

Access Keys - we have enabled access keys (short cut keys) to popular pages. Please follow the link for more information.

The site can be navigated in the following ways:

arrow_small_blue Using the content navigation menu to link to the main content sections on the site, such as Housing Services, The Building Company, Jobs, etc.

arrow_small_blue Using the global site navigation at the beginning, and repeated at the end, of every page. Examples are 'Home' which links to the New Charter Housing Trust Group's website Homepage; and Accessibility: links to this page.

arrow_small_blue Site Map

arrow_small_blue Some pages also have an extra content menu, to allow users to navigate to main sections or specific topics of interest within the subject area currently being viewed.

External Links: any link that goes outside of our website will open in its own window.

Accessibility Advice

The design of our website includes a number of accessibility features including:

 

  • accesskeys

  • advice on browser accessibility options

  • a common design throughout rather than providing text only pages for disabled users, and allowing text sizes and colours to be changed to suit the users needs.
  • ensuring that all relevant images used in our site are given appropriate alternative text descriptions ("ALT texts"), as required by internationally-recognised Web accessibility guidelines. All graphical navigation buttons are similarly ALT-tagged.
  • we do not use moving and/or animated images; and we strictly avoid the use of frames.
  • this site mostly uses PDF (Adobe Acrobat) file format for the publication of large and complex documents. Please note that Adobe Acrobat documents
    can be converted back to plain text using Adobe's Web-based conversion service.

    To view and print PDF files, you must have Adobe Acrobat Reader installed:
    click the link below to download the software:

     Link to download Adobe Acrobat Reader

     the site also publishes documents in Microsoft Word format.

    To view and print Microsoft Word files, you must either have Word installed on your PC or you can download Microsoft Word Viewer software

      Link to download the free Microsoft Word Viewer software


    in general, we try to avoid the use of other proprietary publishing formats and those formats requiring third-party plug-ins., We use other technologies, such as Javascript, appropriately to avoid creating accessibility barriers. We focus on the use of "open" publishing standards, as defined by the World Wide Web Consortium.

    Some occasional exceptions to this are made - for example the Housing Services section has a video entitled: "Need a Home to Rent?" which
    requires a video player [Microsoft's Windows Media Player , RealPlayer,
    etc.]

    We have provided an accessible version of this video by providing the
    script in text.

 

 

Images/ALT tags

We have used images throughout this website to add interest and provide variety.  Most images have been optimised and should load quickly.

Each image is accompanied by Alternative text or ‘ALT tag’ which provides a description of the image.  Alt tags are accessed by placing your mouse over the image.  If you are using a screen reader browser the alt tag will be read out  in place of the image.


Key features:

We aim to meet the Priority A, AA, and selected AAA guidelines of the W3C Web Content Accessibility Guidelines. Our website is tested on a regular basis using a combination of automated tools to identify potential problem areas and manual testing to ensure we meet the spirit as well as the letter of the W3C's accessibility guidelines.

Inevitably, we won't always get it right, and with many pages of content we are bound to miss  a bit here or there, but we are committed to addressing any access issues promptly.


arrow_plum   Re-sizable Text and altering Site Contrast (available from all pages)

We aim to provide the most accessible site in its default format, however we understand that we may not get in right for everyone therefore we will continually offer the option to increase the font size and change the site contrast.
     
arrow_plum   Alternative text for images

Images on our website have alternative text attributes, often known as alt text. This means that when an image is used on a web page to convey information its content is also described in the alt text. This means that the image can be understood by text browsers and assistive technologies such as screen readers. Where possible we will not use images for simply decorative purposes however if an image is used for this purpose, the text attribute for the image is left empty in line with accepted best practice.
     
arrow_plum   Access keys
Access keys are a useful navigation device enabling you to get around the site using your keyboard. They can be used to jump to different sections of content across the site.
View access keys' page

     
arrow_plum   Making content more accessible
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). CSS enable us to enforce a corporate look-and-feel to our website which ensures that a consistent font typeface, use of colour and optimum text sizes are presented to you.
Using cascading style sheets enables us to meet current legislative and industry standards on website accessibility
     
arrow_plum   Use of Plain English

We aim to present information in a logical order and write clearly and simply using everyday words and short sentences. We try also to keep our page design simple and consistent.

However, our website is developing all the time. Please let us know if you have any comments, good or bad, about our website or suggestions about how we can improve it by sending us your feedback.
     
arrow_plum  

Other practical help

We have created a page called 'Practical Help' with the aim of giving some useful advice on:

--Assistance with Internet browsers/viewers, plug ins and printing pages;

--Scrolling and browsing: using the keyboard or mouse; and

--Guidance for new internet users and information about cookies.
    Please click on the above link to go to that page.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


 
     
 
 

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