Accessibility Information for the DRPI Website
DRPI is working to ensure that this web site is accessible to as many people as possible. If you are having difficulty using or accessing the information on this web site or you have a suggestion, please contact us and we will address your problem or suggestion as soon as possible. This site was designed to conform as closely as possible to the Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI) Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG). As web technologies change, we are contstantly evaluating and improving the DRPI website to meet or exceed emerging accessibility standards. Currently, DRPI aspires to maintain AAA conformance to the WCAG 2.0 guidelines, which is the highest standard of the most recent version of the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines.
The rest of this page is devoted to explaining the accessibility and useability features for the DRPI website.
PDF Accessibility
Because HTML is usually the best format for ensuring accessibility of electronic, online information, it is DRPI's policy to provide information in HTML format as much as is possible and appropriate. Where DRPI has opted to provide downloadable files in conjunction with or instead of HTML pages, those files are provided in PDF format. Documents in PDF format can be viewed by any user as long as they have installed a freely available program capable of viewing PDF documents. PDF documents can now be made accessible to screen readers, as long as they are specifically 'tagged' for screen readers. DRPI has made an effort to tag all of the PDF documents available through the DRPI website so that they are accessible to those using screen reader software. We are currently working to update our older PDF documents so that they are also tagged for screen reader accessibility. If you encounter a PDF document which is inaccessible to screen reader software, please notify us and we will update the document as soon as possible so that it is accessible.
Customizing DRPI webpages
All content on the DRPI webpage has been styled to provide users with as much flexibility as possible to modify the presentation of the content according to their preferences or needs, without altering the content itself. For instance, you may decide to disable decorative background images to enable quicker page load times, resize text, or change the colour of page elements such as the text, links and background.
The way users can customize the DRPI webpage depends on the web browser they are using. Here are some instructions for how to customize web page content using different browsers:
| Customization Option | Internet Explorer | Firefox | Safari | Chrome | Opera |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Resize text only | Page > Text Size > Choose desired text size |
View > Zoom > Zoom Text Only Then using the keyboard, press CTRL and + (to increase size), CTRL and - (to decrease size), or CTRL and 0 (to reset size) |
View > Zoom > Zoom Text Only Then using the keyboard, press CTRL and + (to increase size), CTRL and - (to decrease size), or CTRL and 0 (to reset size) |
n/a | n/a |
| Zoom (proportional resize) | Using the keyboard, press CTRL and + (to increase size), CTRL and - (to decrease size), or CTRL and 0 (to reset size) | Using the keyboard, press CTRL and + (to increase size), CTRL and - (to decrease size), or CTRL and 0 (to reset size) | Using the keyboard, press CTRL and + (to increase size), CTRL and - (to decrease size), or CTRL and 0 (to reset size) | Using the keyboard, press CTRL and + (to increase size), CTRL and - (to decrease size), or CTRL and 0 (to reset size) | Using the keyboard, press SHIFT and + (to increase size), CTRL and - (to decrease size), or CTRL and 0 (to reset size) |
| Disable Stylesheet (text only version) | Page > Style > No style | Page style > No style | n/a | n/a | Menu > Page > Style > User Mode |
Additional Customization Features in Opera Browser
Opera browser offers additional customization features not available in other browsers. Opera allows users to disable images on the page and to use predefined custom page styles and even allows users to replace the default page style with a style customized by the user. Check out Opera Browser's tutorials on user customization of web page content for more information.
Navigation
There are a number of features that have been incorporated into this site to make it easier for people with disabilities to navigate through the information. All navigational links are textual and therefore readily accessible to assistive technologies. Information on the page has been organized hierarchically using heading tags, to provide a logical structure. Some screen readers will allow users to navigate through a page using these heading tags, providing a convenient way of navigating through the page's content. At or near the bottom of the main content of each page, there is a navigational link allowing the user to link back to the top of that page, if desired.
Access Keys
Access keys provide an additional way to navigate through a website or webpage. When access keys are enabled on a website, the user can skip to certain sections of a webpage or even to different pages on a website by pressing certain keys on the keyboard. The following table describes the access keys that have been enabled for this web site:
| Internet Explorer / Chrome (Win) / Safari (Win) | Firefox 2+ (Win / Linux), Chrome 3+ (Linux) | Chrome 3+ (Mac), Safari 4+ (Mac) | Firefox 2+ (Mac), Safari 3 (Mac) | Opera | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Skip to the main content of a web page | Alt + 1 | Alt + Shift + 1 | Cmd + Opt + 1 | Cmd + 1 | Shift + Esc + 1 |
| Skip to the navigational menu links | Alt + 2 | Alt + Shift + 2 | Cmd + Opt + 2 | Cmd + 2 | Shift + Esc + 2 |
| Skip to the beginning of the accessibility menu links | Alt + 3 | Alt + Shift + 3 | Cmd + Opt + 3 | Cmd + 3 | Shift + Esc + 3 |
It is notable that some access key assignments might override some keyboard combinations used for certain browsers or screen readers. As such, while this website does use access keys, we have tried to avoid keyboard shortcuts commonly used by other programs. Use of access keys has also been limited only to facilitate navigation through webpages.
Please note that not all browsers support access keys. Also the exact keys that must be pressed may differ across browsers. For example, Internet Explorer requires the user to press ALT in conjunction with the access key while Mac users must press the CTRL key instead. Firefox users need to press the SHIFT and ALT keys in conjunction with the access key. Please check your browser specifications for the exact key sequence
Navigation Menus and Website Organization
On each page, there are a number of menus the user can use to navigate through the site. At the top of each page are links to skip repeating elements on each page, allowing one to skip to the main content, navigation menu or accessibility menu. These links are available via access keys, which are described more thoroughly in the previous section. Selecting the DRPI logo, located near the top of each page, with the mouse or keyboard will take you to the DRPI home page. Following the DRPI logo link (in the red bar near the top of the page), are the DRPI regional project links. Selecting these links will take you to the regional project pages which are sub-pages of the international DRPI. project website. Following the regional project links is a series of 'breadcrumb' links (in the dark green bar below the red regional links bar). These links show where the current page is located within the DRPI website. Clicking on the breadcrumb links will take you to those pages in question. Following the main content of each page (to the right of the main content in the light green bar) are the navigational links specific to the international project or the regional project you are currently visiting. These links will change depending on whether you are on an international project page or a regional page and these menus are titled to clarify which part of the website these links refer to. These project-specific menus can be accessed anywhere on the page by using 'access key 2' (see the previous section for more details). Finally, following the project-specific links are the Accessibility menu links (within the light green footer section at the bottom of each page). The accessibility menu contains links to this page, the site map and an email form which you can use to send a message to the DRPI webmaster. This menu is also accessible by using 'access key 3' (see the previous section for more details).
Links
Throughout the website, link titles are provided to give the user additional information about where that link will take the user. For links to other pages in the DRPI website, the link title will start with 'DRPI:' followed by the title of the page. For links to non-DRPI pages which will take you away from the DRPI website, the link title will begin with 'External:' followed by the page title. For links which take you to a a different place on the same page you are on currently, the link title will contain only the heading title of that part of the page. Finally, if the link is to a non-HTML file, such as a PDF file or Word document, the link title will begin with 'DRPI' or 'External' depending on whether the resource is located on the DRPI web page or a non-DRPI web page, followed by the file type (such as 'PDF document' or 'MP3') and will end with the title of that file.
Special Navigation Menu (available only with certain browsers or screen readers)
For people using browsers or assistive devices that support it, a special navigational menu has also been included for each DRPI page. This navigation bar will only be visible to users using a browser or program which supports this feature. This special navigation bar provides additional ways to navigate through the site including links to this page, the home page, the site map and when a page is part of a series, links to other pages pages in that series. Opera browser is currently the most popular browser with this feature enabled.
Scripts
Client-side scripting, such as Javascript is often used on website to provide additional functionality and interactivity to web pages. However, these scripts can sometimes conflict with assistive technologies or present usability issues for some users. As such, this site minimizes the use of client-side scripting. Where scripts are used, no essential site functionality or content will be lost or compromised if the user cannot run the script. Therefore, it is safe to navigate the DRPI website with scripts turned off or unsupported.