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Accessibility
Translations
Oakus Estates prides itself on its inclusivity and makes every effort to ensure that its residents and potential residents who do not read English can access the information available on this Web site. In addition, we offer similar facilities for translation for all our printed documentation.
We offer the Google Translation service on this Web site:
Audible
Most computers have built-in Text-To-Speech (TTS) facilities.
For Windows 7, Vista, and XP users, double-clicking on the Speech icon (classic view) in Control Panel allows text to speech to be configured.
Windows also comes with Narrator, which is designed to work with Internet Explorer, Notepad, WordPad, Control Panel programs, the Windows desktop, and Windows Setup. It's available from All Programs/Accessories/Accessibility.
With a Mac, it is set up by opening System Preferences and selecting Speech. Check the button for "Speak selected text when the key is pressed", and then press "Set Key" to add your shortcut (eg Control + Option + K). Vicki (or whichever voice is preferred) is now ready to read any page in your browser.
Alternatively, to allow you to hear the pages on this Web site read aloud, you can use WebAnywhere. WebAnywhere is a Web-based screen reader. It requires no special software to be installed on your computer.
Click on this link or go to wa.cs.washington.edu. This is the WebAnywhere site.
Next, paste the URL of the Web page you want to have read out loud, eg http://www.westlea.co.uk/access.htm, into the box near the top of the page next to the word "Location", and then press the button next to the box marked "go".
Readable
The size of the text on a page can be altered to make your reading experience easier by clicking on the letters below:
You can also specify the font sizes, styles and colours, and foreground and background colours of Web pages displayed on your computer screen.
With Internet Explorer, go to Tools / Internet Options / General and click on the 'Accessibility...' button. To change your font colour, check the box marked 'Ignore colours specified on Web pages' Click on the 'Colours...' button. Uncheck the box next to 'Use Windows colours', and select your own Text, Background, and link colours from those available. Click on the 'OK' button on this tab and then on the 'OK' button on the Internet Options tab.
With Mozilla Firefox, go to the Tools menu, select Options, open the General menu and select Fonts and colours. Here you can change the text colour as well as the type of font.
The suggested minimum display settings for the pages on this Web site are 800x600 and 16-bit colour (Medium or Thousands of Colours depending on your operating system). Please consult your computer's help files or supplier's instructions for setting your display options.
Other formats
If you would like to have any part of this Web site or any of Oakus's documents explained or in a different format, such as in braille or on audio tape, please contact us on 01249 465465 to discuss your needs.
Web standards
We believe the Internet should be easy-to-use for everyone. Therefore, we have a policy of accessibility, and have designed this Web site to meet current Web standards.
All development work adheres to current Web Standards, as defined by the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C).
Design Guidelines
The Web site has been designed with these accessibility guidelines in mind:
- We ensure that navigation throughout the site works in a consistent way.
- We use standard Web fonts to make it easy for all to read. In most cases, the size of the font can be adjusted according to the users' needs, using standard browser and operating system options.
- All the images are given 'alt text' alternatives and 'title text', except those that are only decorative where the tags are left blank.
- We never use colour as the only way to convey information.
Downloadable documents
Adobe Acrobat is required to view and print PDF documents that appear on this Web site. To download or upgrade this program for free, visit the Adobe Web site or click here. To read PDF documents with a screen reader please link to the Access Adobe Web site which provides useful tools and resources. Tools are available on the Adobe website to help users access the contents of PDF documents.