
Accessibility
- Design and Layout
- Links
- Images
- Font-Sizing
- Validators
- Changing Browser Settings
- Screen Readers
- Bottom Banners
- Help with Web Accesibility
- Help with PDF files
Web Accessibility Statement
EIQA is committed to providing web pages that are accessible to all users, including users with disabilities. To this end, our EIQA website will meet W3C Level 1 Web Accessibility guidelines at all times. However, EIQA will attempt to meet W3C Level 2 Web Accessibility guidelines WAI AA, but due to our commitment to update our website on a regular basis, it is not always possible at this time to have all pages meeting Level 2 Web Accessibility.
We understand that many potential and existing visitors may have sight problems or other difficulties accessing the web, and that we need to remove obstacles preventing you from engaging with us online.
While we work towards making out websites as accessible as we possibly can, we welcome any feedback you may have about the accessibility of our websites. Please contact at
Design and Layout
The design and layout of the EIQA website pages are carefully planned to be clear and allow for easy navigation. For example, the text is dark against a sufficiently contrasting background colour, making it clearly visible, and headings are clearly distinguishable. Links to non-EIQA websites should all open in new windows and a notification is made to users when a new window will open.
Links
- Many links use the title attribute, which describes the links in more detail.
Images
- All images use an alt tag. Blank alt tags are used for bulleted-list images, spacer images, etc.
Font-sizing and Stylesheets
- Standard stylesheets have been developed which size fonts consistently across all supported browsers. Stylesheets are used to control the presentation of all web pages and the use of a sans-serif font is set as default. If a browser does not support stylesheets, the content of each page is still readable.
Validators
- Websites that are designed by and in conjunction with the Web Office are validated for XHTML 1.0 Transitionalusing the W3C markup validatorand Level 2 Web Accessibility using Bobby software and also referencing the WAI guidelines.
Changing your browser settings
EIQA website pages are designed so that you can change the font size. If you wish to do so, please see the guides below for information on changing your browser settings.
Microsoft information on changing Internet Explorer browser settings
Netscape information on changing Netscape Navigator browser settings
Opera information on changing Opera browser settings
Navigating EIQA web pages with Screen Readers
The following gives important information about how the EIQA website is structured. The first link on an EIQA web page is a hidden link called "Skip Navigation ". By pressing enter on this link, the screen reader will skip the EIQA navigation, which is located at the top of every page, and will skip to web page content. Many web pages include a "Back to Top" link at the bottom of the page where necessary. Pressing enter on this link will take the user back to the top of the page.
Standard Bottom Banner
Each web page also contains a standard bottom banner, which includes links to the EIQA Legal & privacy statements.
Further information about web accessibility
National Disability Authority
The National Disability Authority is an excellent source of information.
www.nda.ie
Disability Rights Commission (DRC)
The DRC's website is a good resource for learning about the problems faced by disabled people, both online and offline.
www.drc-gb.org
AbilityNet
AbilityNet helps people with disabilities with advice, factsheets, assessments, training and assistive technology.
www.abilitynet.org.uk
The following technical web design requirements apply to the design and coding of EIQA websites. All new websites are required to meet W3C Level 2 Web Accessibility guidelines (http://www.w3.org/WAI/).
For more in depth information regarding the EIQA's web design requirements, please see the eCSB Website Design & Content Management Standard contained in the W-Mark section of our website.
We welcome your feedback
While we work towards making our websites as accessible as we possibly can, we welcome any feedback you may have about the accessibility of our websites. Please contact at
Help with pdf files
You need Adobe Acrobat Reader installed on your computer to open pdf files and this can be freely downloaded from Adobe's website.
Adobe's
If you need information on making pdf files accessible, Adobe have a website aimed at improving access to electronic information for people with disabilities, featuring an online tool to convert pdf's to text.
Adobe's Access website
Adobe's online pdf conversion tool
