We want everyone who uses our website to be able to find, read and understand our content.
We aim to make our content meet the accessibility standards of the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) version 2.1 at an AA standard.
We use Recite Me on our website, which lets you customise your website experience to work in a way that helps you. You can:
We aim to make our website as easy to read as possible and follow the Plain English principles.
AbilityNet has advice on making your device easier to use if you have a disability.
We ensure that all our links are descriptive to make it easy for everyone, particularly screenreader users, to know where the link will lead. In addition, all our external links include the name of the external site being linked to in order to make it clear when users are leaving the website and avoid potential confusion.
All visual elements (e.g. images, buttons, form fields, navigation icons etc) are labelled with alternative text (alt text) to convey meaning for those with visual impairments.
All maps include a full location address, as an alternative for users who are unable to access and operate the interactive map elements.
Location addresses are also useful for the average users for navigational purposes. E.g. Keying into a sat nav.
All videos with dialog include captions to allow deaf users to read the language spoken.
Videos without dialog include a text transcript describing the visual element for visually impaired users.
We aim to provide content in html format where possible. Where we have to use PDF documents the documents these will be:
We have produced a number of PDF documents in an easy read format, making written information easier to understand.
Use Recite me text to speech software to listen to content you select with the mouse or keyboard.
Press the Accessibility button and a drop down menu will appear. Use the play button, next and previous controls to listen to the content.
You can use browser plugins or assistive technology such as screen readers to list the headings and sub-headings in the page.
Users of assistive technology such as screen readers can get a list of all the links on a page and understand their purpose from the link text.
A keyboard focus is provided to allow a visual aid for keyboard users when navigating over interactive elements, such as links and form fields, on a web page using the tab key.
The navigation order in which interactive elements receive keyboard focus (reading order for screen reader users) is logical and follows the visual flow of the page: left to right, top to bottom.
Screen reader and keyboard users can use the following skip links and keys to move around pages more easily by 'skipping' over repetitive web content such as header links:
S - Skip to Content
0 - Accessibility
1 - Home page
2 - Skip to navigation
3 - Sitemap
4 - Search
5 - Skip to base
8 - Terms and conditions
9 - Contact us
Please note: different browsers use access keys in a different ways. In general you needs to hold down a key or two then press the key you want.
We recognise and value all our customers, including those who use British Sign Language (BSL) and/or Speech to Text Translation (STTR).
We are part of the Community Directory where you can contact us via a British Sign Language interpreter using SignLive.
Through the Inclusion Reference Group, we work closely with a number of partners from the voluntary, community and faith sectors, to ensure we further improve our engagement and consultation with all communities.
If you require an interpreter to enable you to access a Council service please contact, Lesley Pritchard (Inclusion Officer) on 01772 906670 or email l.prichard@preston.gov.uk
Our website is developed using valid HTML5, CSS and JavaScript to standards laid out in the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG 2.1) to a level of AA.
The website content works with assistive technologies that visitors might use, such as screen readers or text only browsers.
We undertake monthly accessibility audits of the website through a report created by Siteimprove, which identifies if we are meeting WCAG 2.1 AA standards which guides our long term audit and improvement plans.
We work to achieve and maintain WCAG 2.1 AA standards, but it is not always possible for all our content to be accessible. This could be for a number of reasons but where content is likely to create barriers, we will state a reason, warn users and offer an alternative.
If we have failed to identify a barrier or you find an accessibility issue please email webmanager@preston.gov.uk.
Our website includes third party content, systems and functionality. Depending on our relationship with the third party, we cannot always guarantee it meets our accessibility standards.
We often create content which is hosted on third party platforms, this includes:
Where we use the above type of media we will ensure correct accessibility measures are used, such as subtitles for videos or a transcript.
To benefit our users we link to other websites, such as:
We are not responsible for the accessibility of these or any other websites that we do not manage.
We value feedback from real website users and would love to hear from you and the experience you had with us.
Do you have a disability that affects the way you use the website? For example, do you use assistive technologies such as a screen reader, do you find this site easy to use?
The World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) has useful tips on contacting organisations about inaccessible websites.
