The council is committed to ensuring that all visitors can access its website. This is regardless of:
- any disability
- the level of technology they have access to.
We have designed our website using guidelines produced by the Cabinet Office's e-Government Unit. These include:
- No use of frames. Some speech readers get confused when they find html documents with framesets.
- Alternative text for all images. This is useful for text-based browsers and users with visual impairments.
- Ability to navigate the website using only the keyboard. This is important for users that cannot use a pointer device, such as a mouse. This could be due to mobility problems or visual impairments.
- Allowing users to control the size of the text appearing on the website to suit their needs. (see How to increase the text size in your browser).
- Allowing users to control the background colour of the website to suit their needs. (see How to change the background colour in your browser).
The World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) has created Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) as part of its web accessibility initiative. There are three levels of compliance with the W3C guidelines. These are priority levels one, two and three.
The Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG) has set the minimum standard for council websites at priority level two. We are currently striving to ensure that our website meets this target and where possible goes beyond it. We are continually reviewing the accessibility of our website in order to make it available to the widest range of users.
Wherever possible we use plain English on the website. Plain English is language that everyone in our audience can easily understand. The only exceptions to this are documents that convey text of a technical or legal nature.
To ensure that our website is truly accessible, the best test is for real people to use the site. If you have any questions or comments regarding the accessibility of our website please contact us using our online feedback form or email us at customerservice@northlincs.gov.uk.
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