Accessibility

It is vital that websites are accessible to everyone - not only does it make good business sense, but it is also a legal requirement for businesses and organisations to make reasonable adjustments to provide accessible services or information.

One of the main goals of the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) is to make the web accessible to all by promoting technologies that take into account the vast differences in culture, languages, education, ability, material resources, access devices, and physical limitations of users on all continents.

Many users may be operating in contexts very different from our own:

1. they may not be able to see, hear, move, or may not be able to process some types of information easily or at all
2. they may have difficulty reading or comprehending text
3. they may not have or be able to use a keyboard or mouse
4. they may have a text-only screen, a small screen, or a slow internet connection
5. they may not speak or understand fluently the language in which the document is written
6. they may be in a situation where their eyes, ears, or hands are busy or interfered with (eg, working in a loud environment, etc)
7. they may have an early version of a browser, a different browser entirely, a voice browser, or a different operating system.

W3C has a set of guidelines, to promote accessibility, which www.capita-software.co.uk aims to meet - these are:

1. Provide equivalent alternatives to auditory and visual content
   Provide content that, when presented to the user, conveys essentially the same function or purpose as auditory or visual content.
2. Don't rely on colour alone
   Ensure that text and graphics are understandable when viewed without colour.
3. Use markup and style sheets and do so properly
   Mark up documents with the proper structural elements. Control presentation with style sheets rather than with presentation elements and attributes
4. Clarify natural language usage
   Use markup that facilitates pronunciation or interpretation of abbreviated or foreign text.
5. Create tables that transform gracefully
   Ensure that tables have necessary markup to be transformed by accessible browsers and other user agents.
6. Ensure that pages featuring new technologies transform gracefully
   Ensure that pages are accessible even when newer technologies are not supported or are turned off.
7. Ensure user control of time-sensitive content changes
   Ensure that moving, blinking, scrolling, or auto-updating objects or pages may be paused or stopped.
8. Ensure direct accessibility of embedded user interfaces
   Ensure that the user interface follows principles of accessible design: device-independent access to functionality, keyboard operability, self-voicing, etc.
9. Design for device-independence
   Use features that enable activation of page elements via a variety of input devices.
10. Use interim solutions
    Use interim accessibility solutions so that assistive technologies and older browsers will operate correctly.
11. Use W3C technologies and guidelines
    Use W3C technologies (according to specification) and follow accessibility guidelines. Where it is not possible to use a W3C technology, or doing so results in material that does not transform gracefully, provide an alternative version of the content that is accessible.
12. Provide context and orientation
    Provide context and orientation information to help users understand complex pages or elements.
13. Provide clear navigation mechanisms
    Provide clear and consistent navigation mechanisms - orientation information, navigation bars, a site map, etc - to increase the likelihood that a person will find what they are looking for at a site.
14. Ensure that documents are clear and simple

If you have any comments or questions about Capita's approach to accessibility, please email cssenquiries@capita.co.uk.