Every effort has been made to ensure that the website reaches AA standard accessibility according to the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C). Please contact us by emailing [email protected] if you have any suggestions for enhancing access to this site.
Please note that all links to other websites on this page will launch a new browser window.
Responsive design
Our website is mobile-friendly and built for viewing on multiple platforms including desktop computers, laptops, tablets and smartphone devices.
Accessibility tools
Many tools exist to help people with a disability access the internet. These tools are defined as either ‘hardware’ or ‘software’.
Hardware
Various hardware tools can help people with disabilities to use a computer keyboard or mouse, for example:
- refreshable braille displays help blind people to read a computer screen line by line
- joysticks and trackballs help people with motor disabilities to use a computer mouse.
Alternative keyboards with limited keys can help people with motor disabilities to use a computer keyboard. These include keyboards manipulated by fingers and keyboards manipulated using a head-wand.
Software
Software tools can also help users interact with computers in ways that best suit them.
Screen reader programs such as JAWS and Window-Eyes can convert a website into a braille display or convert it to audio for people who are blind, visually impaired or have dyslexia.
Screen magnifier programs magnify sections of a computer screen for people with vision impairments. See Windows Screen Magnifier
Oversized cursor software can help people with vision impairments use a computer cursor. See Biggy cursors.
On-screen keyboards combined with switching devices can help people with motor disabilities to use a computer keyboard.
Programs that slow down applications can assist people with motor disabilities. See CPU Killer
Images
All images contain alternative (ALT) text. This ALT attribute is displayed when the site is visited with images “off” and voiced by screen readers. The null (or empty) ALT attribute used for ‘non-functional or brand-type’ images should be ignored by screen readers.
Tables and forms
Forms and tables use accessibility features that enable them to be used with screen readers.
JavaScript
The JavaScript used has been designed to be accessible to most assistive technologies in common use today. With a few pages however, JavaScript is used to show or hide portions of some pages. When these pages are accessed with devices that do support this function, all information will be presented.
Converting PDF’s
The Adobe website also contains a tool and instructions for converting PDFs into web pages online (http://www.adobe.com/products/acrobat/access_onlinetools.html). It works with most, but not all PDFs. However, the conversion can take some minutes.
We are continually seeking out solutions that will bring all areas of the site up to the same level of overall web accessibility. In the meantime should you experience any difficulty in accessing the nwmphn.org.au website please do not hesitate to contact us.
Acknowledgements
The information above has been sourced from:
- Multimedia Victoria
- the websites of the various commercial browsers.
