Accessibility

Browsers

This site has been built for Safari, Chrome, Firefox, Internet Explorer 9 and above and Microsoft Edge. If you are using an older version than Internet Explorer 9 you may experience problems and should look at upgrading your browser to a newer version.

The website includes the following features to make the site accessible to all our visitors.

Changing colours, font, text size and other settings

All modern browsers allow you to change colours and font sizes. We’ve tried to create a site which doesn’t get in the way when you change these settings.

Compatibility with tools

wirralview.com should be compatible with recent versions of the following screen readers:

  • Jaws
  • ZoomText
  • NVDA
  • VoiceOver
  • Window Eyes
  • Supernova screen readers

The site should also be compatible with:

  • basic operating system screen magnifiers
  • speech recognition software, for example Dragon Naturally Speaking
  • operating system speech packages

Plain English

We try to write in plain English and avoid jargon. If you don’t understand something, please let us know by contacting wvnews@wirral.gov.uk

Heading structures

The site uses simple heading structures which should make it easier to find what you need, especially for people who use screen readers.

Web standards

We try our best to comply with code standards, for example HTML and CCS, and W3C web accessibility guidelines.

Regular checking for errors

We use software to regularly check the site for accessibility errors that might make it more difficult to use. The software also identifies broken links and spelling mistakes so they can be fixed .

Alt Tags

All pictures and images within the site will be tagged with alternative text to describe the content of a picture. This is useful for text-based browsers or for users with visual impairments as it enables the picture to be described in words.

Navigating around the website

Skip to navigation

We have a ‘skip to navigation’ link at the top of the page which will skip navigation links and other elements to arrive at the main content. This appears when you start to tab through the website pages.

Videos

We will sometimes add videos to the website to support the website text. Where possible, when we add videos we will provide captions so that you can read what people are saying as it happens.

Accessibility disclaimer

Despite our best efforts there are some web pages which are provided by other organisations which do not yet have all the functionality mentioned above. We are working with our partners to make these websites as accessible as possible.

We also embed Google Maps and YouTube videos on some of our pages. We have made efforts to make these as accessible as possible but some screen reader or keyboard only users may have difficulties accessing them. We will try to provide text alternatives for these websites or at the very least a link back to the provider’s website.

Tell us what you think

We will do our best to ensure our website adheres to the current web accessibility standards, but we value feedback from real web users.

  • do you have a disability that affects the way you use the web?
  • do you use assistive technologies such as a screen-reader?
  • do you find this site easy to use?
  • is there anything we could do to improve accessibility?

Contact us to tell us what you think. You can do this by e-mailing wtnews@wirral.gov.uk