Accessibility
Accessibility and usability have been key elements considered in the development of this website, so we hope you can find, access and use the information you need. This website has been designed to meet the Australian Government standards, including those that relate to access for people with disabilities. This site incorporates all relevant priority 1 and most priority 2 and priority 3 requirements from the Web Accessibility Initiative of the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C).
This site has been developed to display adequately on all commonly used browsers. Special features have been included to enable effective operation by persons using accessibility hardware and/or software. The site is optimised for a 1024 x 768 screen resolution but will scale appropriately to both higher and lower screen resolutions.
If there is information that you require and it is in a format you cannot access, or if you experience any other accessibility difficulties, please contact us.
This page explains ways you can change your view of the site, and the accessibility features available on the website, below.
- Change the size of the text
- Flexible page layout
- Navigation using a screenreader
- Print friendly page layout
- Search and search options
- Help with downloading documents and files
Change the size of the text
To change the size of the text, change the text display settings in your web browser.
In Windows this is done in different browsers by:
- in Internet Explorer go to the View menu and select the Text size option, then the size you prefer
- in Firefox 1.5 / 2 open the View menu with the mouse or by selecting Alt and V at the same time. Select the Text Size option with the mouse or select Z. Increase or decrease the text size with the mouse or by using the up and down arrow keys and selecting Enter.
- in Firefox versions earlier than 1.5 open the View menu with the mouse or by selecting Alt and V at the same time. Select the Text Size option with the mouse or by selecting S twice. Increase or decrease the text size with the mouse or by using the up and down arrow keys and selecting Enter.
- In Netscape click on the View menu with the mouse or select Alt + V . Click on the Text Zoom option with the mouse or select Z. Click on the text size you want with the mouse or use the up and down keys and then Enter to select the text size you want.
- In Opera press + (in some versions you might need to select the Shift key as well) to increase size and the - (minus) to decrease text size. Each click will increase or decrease the size by 10%. Alternatively select Alt + V to bring up the view menu and then select Z to bring up the zoom options then use the up and down arrow keys to select the option you want followed by Enter.
In Mac this is done in different browsers by:
- in Firefox, Internet Explorer or Netscape 7 select Apple and + (plus) to increase the text size and Apple and - (minus ) to decrease the text size
- in Opera for OS 8 and 9, select Apple + Y. Click on Fonts and colors or use the down arrow to select it. Click in the box next to Minimum font size (pixels) or use Tab until the box is highlighted and enter a minimum font size
- in Opera 8 / 9 for OS X select Apple + , (comma). Click on the Web pages tab or select Alt + Tab until the Web pages tab is selected. Click on the Page Zoom option box and select your zoom size or use the Tab key twice to select the page zoom option box and use the up and down arrow keys to select your zoom size.
- in Safari click on the View menu with the mouse. Click on Make Text Bigger or Make Text Smaller to change the font size
In Linux this is done in different browsers by:
- in Firefox open the View menu with the mouse or by selecting Alt + V. Click Text Size. Click on Increase or Decrease to change the text size or use the right arrow to expand the Text Size menu options and use the up and down arrow to select Increase or Decrease and then select Enter
- in Konqueror select Ctrl and + (plus) to increase the text size and select Ctrl + - (minus) to decrease the text size
- in Opera 8 /9 select Shift and + to increase size and Shift + - to decrease text size. Each time you repeat this will increase or decrease the size by 10%.
- in Opera 6 /7 click on the File menu or select Alt + F. Click on the Preferences option or select R. Select Page Style. Click on the box under Default Zoom and when the list pops up click on the font size you want or select Alt + Z and use the up and down arrows to select the font size you want
More accessibility help information can be found at the BBC My Web My Way website
Flexible page layout
Our web site has a flexible page layout. The central text column stretches to fit as you resize your browser window. This allows you to adjust the text line length for easier reading at whatever text size you have chosen.
Navigation using a screenreader
If you are using a screenreader program, there are a number of aids to help you find your way around the website.
Skip to content
For people using screen readers each page has a link that says "skip to content". Following this link will skip over the page header and skip over the navigation menu to take you straight to the content of the page. The page header and navigation are repeated on every page so this avoids hearing them again and again.
Skip to navigation
For people using screen readers each page has a link that says "Skip to main navigation". Following this link will skip over the page header and go to the main site navigation menu. The page header is repeated on every page so this avoids hearing it again and again.
Skip to footer
For people using screen readers each page has a link that says "Skip to footer". Following this link will skip over the page header and content and go to the footer of the page.
Print friendly layout
Every page is set up to print out a print-friendly format - simply use the print function in your browser and the page will be delivered with correct formatting and without unhelpful page items such as the navigation.
Help with downloading documents and files
There are many documents and media files for download on the website. Here are a few tips about accessing those resources.
Some documents are available in a variety of formats
Some documents are published in more than one format. All pages are made available in HTML where feasible - exceptions to this are forms, where both RTF and PDF versions are made available.
Formats for documents which may be provided include Microsoft Word (doc), Rich Text Format (RTF), Portable Document Format (PDF), Zip for larger files, HTML for web browsers and basic text (txt).
Some documents are also published in easy to read formats.
Help with accessing PDF files
To read PDF documents you need Adobe Acrobat Reader installed on your computer. Commonly this is already on your computer, installed with your web browser. But if you do not have Adobe Acrobat Reader you can download it for free from adobe.com
Downloading documents
You can download documents and open them to read in your web browser or save them to your computer to read offline.
To read a downloadable document in your web browser simply click the link to the document.
To save a downloadable document right-click on the download (PC) or shift + click (Mac) and select the Save link or Save target option.