help with viewing this site

If you have a disability or impairment that makes it difficult to use the internet, here are some things that can help you.

1. make use of the accessibility tools in your operating system
   

   Mac users - there are a range of accessibility tools built in to Mac OS X including Display Adjustment which can help you see the page more clearly. Visit http://www.apple.com/accessibility/ (external link) for more details.

   PC users - Windows XP and Vista have a set of accessibility tools that can be used to make many aspects of using the computer easier:
   In Windows XP - go to Start... Programs... Accessories... Accessibility... Accessibility Wizard.
   In Vista - go to Start... Control Panel... Ease of Access Center.

2. use an up-to-date browser
   

   PC users - the latest editions of popular browsers such as Internet Explorer, Mozilla Firefox and Opera have useful visual tools that can change the way you view webpages. These tools may not be present in older versions - if you can't find them, you may need to upgrade your browser by following these external links:
   Internet Explorer - http://www.microsoft.com/windows/products/winfamily/ie/default.mspx
   Mozilla Firefox - http://www.mozilla.com/en-US/firefox/
   Opera - http://www.opera.com/download/

   Here are some of the ways the browser can help you:

   Internet Explorer
   You can magnify pages by selecting Page... Zoom
   You can make text bigger or smaller by going to Page... Text Size

   Mozilla Forefox
   To make text bigger or smaller, select View... Text Size
   To change the style of the page display, select View... Page Style

   Opera
   To magnify pages, select View... Zoom
   To choose whether the page shows images, select View... Images
   To change the page background and text to a high contrast black and white version, select View... Style... High contrast (W/B)

3. use a text-only browser
   

   Lynx is a free text-only browser which can be downloaded from this external link - http://lynx.browser.org/

4. use a screen reader program
   

   Jaws is one of several popular screen reader programs. It is not free, but a time-limited trial version can be downloaded from this external link - http://www.freedomscientific.com/fs_downloads/jaws.asp

5. change the colour scheme of the page
   

   In Windows, you can alter the colour scheme of the computer - including the colours it uses for webpages. To do this -
   Go to Start... Settings... Control Panel.
   Click the Display icon and click the Appearance tab.
   In the window that opens, you can change the Colour Scheme and Font.
   Clicking the Advanced tab gives even more colours to try until you find one that is best for you.

   (Note - the location of Control Panel may differ slightly depending which version of Windows you have).

6. further help
   

   AbilityNet http://www.abilitynet.org.uk/ (external link) is a UK charity that supports and advises on practical internet usage for people with disabilities or impairments.