Accessibility Help & Information
We have designed this web site so that as many people as possible can access the information on its pages. If you have vision or mobility issues, this may be of interest to you.
This guide provides you with more information to help you use these features.
On This Page:
Keyboard Access
Most browsers offer ways to navigate through a web page using your keyboard. Below is a list of keyboard shortcuts to help you use this web site easier with a keyboard.
Using the Tab Key for Navigation
You can move from link to link by pressing the Tab key. Each press of the Tab key will advance you to the next link on the page. To activate the selected link, press the Enter key. To reselect a link you have already passed, hold down Shift and press Tab to travel backward through the links, one at a time.
Note: Safari 3 for Windows does not currently support the use of the Tab key to move from link to link. You can however, tab to form elements.
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Access Keys
Access keys allow you to travel to the main sections of a web site by using your keyboard. These shortcuts can be accessed by using a key combination anywhere on the page - there is no need to return to the top or bottom of each page.
Instead of having to use a mouse or other pointing device to click on a menu item, you can simply press and hold down the Alt key (or Option on Mac) and then press the number of the menu item to access the link.
Note: Due to a lack of standards with regard to access keys, we have decided, rather than risk interfering with important browser keyboard shortcuts, not to use access keys on this website. However, many sites still use access keys for their navigation. For this reason, we’re keeping a list of browsers and the keys needed to activate access keys.
Since operating systems (OS) and browsers vary with regard to what keys are needed to activate access keys, below is a list of popular OS and browser combinations.
| OS | Browser | Access Key Combination |
|---|---|---|
| Windows | Firefox 1 & 1.5 | Alt + [access key] |
| Firefox 2 † | Shift + Alt + [access key] (see footnote #2) | |
| Firefox 3 | Shift + Alt + [access key] + Enter to activate the link | |
| Safari 3 | Accesskeys not supported | |
| Google Chrome | Accesskeys do not seem to be supported | |
| Internet Explorer 4 & above | Alt + [access key] (to focus the link) + Enter to activate the link | |
| Mozilla | Alt + [access key] | |
| Netscape 6 & above | Alt + [access key] | |
| Opera 7 & above | Shift + Esc & release, followed by [access key] | |
| Mac OS X | Internet Explorer 5.2 | Control + [access key] |
| Firefox 1 & 1.5 | Control + [access key] | |
| Mozilla | Control + [access key] | |
| Netscape 6 & above | Control + [access key] | |
| Opera 7 & above | Shift + Esc & release, followed by [access key] | |
| Safari/OmniWeb | Control + [access key] | |
| Linux (Ubuntu) | Firefox 1 & 1.5 | Alt + [access key] |
| Firefox 2 | Shift + Alt + [access key] | |
| Firefox 3 | Shift + Alt + [access key] + Enter to activate the link | |
| Konqueror | Control + [access key] | |
| Galeon/Mozilla | Alt + [access key] | |
| Epiphany | Alt + [access key] | |
| Opera | Shift + Esc & release, followed by [access key] | |
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* Please note some of these browsers have not been personally tested, and some browsers may not support access keys. However, sites that use access keys are still accessible in all browsers by using the Tab key regardless of whether access keys are supported (with the exception of Safari 3 for Windows which does not support the tab key or access keys). † Some early versions of Firefox 2 did not allow the use of numbered access keys as used on this and many other web sites. However, the most recent versions of Firefox 2 should work just fine using the key combination listed above. If you use an older version of Firefox, we encourage you to download the newest version of Firefox (3) from Mozilla’s official web site. |
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Accessible Design
The way information is presented on this web site is to make it usable (and easier to use) for those who have special accessibility needs.
- Alternate text is used to describe the content or function of each image (where applicable) on this site.
- Links are written so that they are understandable out of context.
- This site can be navigated without the use of a mouse.
- No special plug-ins, or technology (this includes cookies and Javascript) are needed to make full use of this site.
- Adheres to the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) and the US Government’s accessibility guidelines (Section 508).
Alternate Text
Each image contains alternate text to provide a useful description of the image for those who use a verbal screen reader or have images turned off.
This allows you to use the site without the need of graphics (though images make it much prettier to look at).
Links
In order to increase the usefulness of this site, an effort is made to make the text used for each text link understandable, even when out of context. This is useful to people who use text browsers. Instead of saying ‘click here’ or ‘more’, we would use the text ‘click here for more information about accessibility guidelines’.
WCAG & Section 508
Guidelines provided by the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) and the United States government help to make sure information on the web is accessible to everyone.
This site complies with the guidelines set out in both the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) and the US Section 508 specifications.
For more information about these guidelines, visit either the WCAG web site or the Section 508 web site. There is also a useful brochure about Section 508 & accessibility in general found on access-board.gov.
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Please contact us if you have any questions or comments about the accessibility of this web site, and we will do our best to help you.
