People use a variety of browsers - including graphic, audio and text-only interfaces - running on a variety of systems. Their choice of technology may depend on cost of and access to equipment or disability. The combination of these factors can make access to information on the web an uneven experience. Some people can't use all, or even any, of the visual clues to how a site works: e.g. colour and layout. However, other features can be built into the site to make visiting a site straightforward.
The site is designed with Black Text on a Blue background, which is easier for many people with visual impairments to read than Black Text on White. However, this is not suitable for all readers. Alternative colour schemes (known as Alternative Stylesheets) are available for people with browsers that support them. (Text-only browsers probably do not.) Few browsers currently offer the option to select these directly. Internet Explorer offers an alternative method of applying a different colour scheme. The instructions that follow are for Internet Explorer, though other browsers may offer a similar method for applying them.
Four alternative colour schemes are available. Each of the four schemes in the following list links to a file you need to download and save to apply that scheme. Note: unless your browser set-up prevents it, these files will open in a new window. You can keep more than one of these files on your computer at the same time, but you can only apply one scheme at a time.
Choose the scheme you want to try. Open the link. Save the file somewhere you will be able to find it again. (Perhaps you have somewhere you keep SRSB documents, or you may want to create a new folder called, perhaps, "SRSB Stylesheet".) SRSB does not recommend you make changes to the files before saving them. You can close the new window, or return to this page if a new window didn't open.
Now follow these instructions.
To undo these changes, return to the "Accessibility" dialog box and switch off the four check boxes. To change the stylesheet, just browse here to another stylesheet file instead.
Please note that these schemes are designed to work with this site. SRSB makes no claim as to their usability with other sites. However, you are welcome to try them with other sites. The schemes will not damage anything; so you can switch them on and off according to your needs.
The site has been tested in Internet Explorer 5, 5.5 and 6.0, Netscape 6, and Opera 5. It will work in older versions of these browsers, but visual display will not be as good as older browsers do not support many of the features of more modern browsers. We are aware that versions of Netscape prior to 6 produce some odd visual displays, however Netscape has fundamentally changed the way its browser works with release 6, improving it significantly.
We have prepared a Screen Reader Guide page to the site's accessibility features for people using screen reading software. The guide may also be of use to anyone using a text-only browser. This site has several features which will aid navigation using these aids. However, the features are not all widely implemented on the web, so they may be unfamiliar to visitors.
The SRSB has made every effort to make this site accessible. The following technical standards underly the design of this site. Any comments about the site's design are welcome and may be made to webmaster@srsb.org.uk.
| Logo | Background | Technical Resources |
|---|---|---|
 |
HTML (Hyper-Text Markup Language) is defined by the W3C (World Wide Web Consortium). It is used to structure a document so that a browser knows how it should render page content. | HTML
description, HTML validator |
 |
CSS (Cascading Style Sheets) is defined by the W3C. It is used to control the way a browser displays page content, for example visually. | CSS
description, CSS validator |
 |
Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI): The W3C defines three levels of design for accessibility. Each level consists of standards a site should meet to increase its accessibility to the widest audience. The SRSB site is meets the highest standard, Level-AAA. | WAI,
Level Triple-A Conformance |
 |
Bobby: Bobby is a program which can check web pages for accessibility problems. The SRSB site is approved to Level-AAA standard. | Bobby |
N.B. Although these logos are only displayed at the bottom of the home page, the entire site meets the standards.
All text and images copyright of Sheffield Royal Society for the Blind unless otherwise stated. You are welcome to use the material on this site for legitimate purposes, such as reviews, linking to this site or research. A link to this site and proper attribution for any material used is requested. If you want to use a photo from this site, that is fine too, within the same guidelines. However, if the photo shows someone's face or otherwise makes them recognisable, please ask us for permission before you use it. We are grateful to those people who have given us their consent to use pictures of them. Without prejudice to any legal copyright issues, it would be courteous to ask their permission before a picture gets a wider audience. Thank you.
Links to external sites are provided in good faith. They are chosen for their relevence to this site. We're not responsible for the content or design of external sites. If you find a problem with the content or accessibility of any of these sites, please get in touch with whoever runs their site. If you find a broken link on our site, we'd be pleased to know.
Please note that all comments about this site should be directed to webmaster@srsb.org.uk.
This site was designed by Peter Norrington. His website is www.infomancy.co.uk.
Sheffield Royal Society for the Blind
“Supporting Blind & Partially Sighted People in Sheffield”
Davy Markham Works
Prince of Wales Road
Darnall
Sheffield
S9 4DZ
Registered Charity Number 1047257
Telephone: 0114 244 6164
E-mail: info@srsb.org.uk
Websites: www.srsb.org.uk
Page last checked on 07/06/2007.
© 2001-2002 Sheffield Royal Society for the Blind