Accessibility

We want the website to be accessible to all users. We are therefore working towards adapting it to the recommendations issued by the WAI (Web Accessibility Initiative), an international working group integrated into the World Wide Web Consortium W3C in order to eliminate those barriers that limit the right of any individual to have access to information and communication.

This effort follows the directives of the initiatives included in the eEurope 2002 Action Plan 2002 with reference to the “Accessibility of Public Web Sites and Their Content”, contained in the EU Council Resolution of 25 March 2002.

The level of accessibility that we want to attain corresponds to the WAI category of AA.

Guidelines for accessibility

• XHTML 1.0 Transitional and CSS 2.1 Code must be used. The use of these standards has improved access both for users with special needs and for users with all types of browsers and has reduced downloading times, which is helpful for users with slow connections.
• We have positioned content using CSS and without tables. Screen readers for those who are visually impaired and blind read the document in a logical way.
• We have clearly identified the different sections, subsections and headings of the website.
• Users can change the colour and size of letters using the browser tools to adapt them for visually impaired people.
  • With Microsoft Internet Explorer and with Mozilla Firefox, with the option “View” > “Text size”.
  • With Mozilla Firefox, the keys [Ctrl +] increase the size and [Ctrl -] decrease it.
• We only use tables for tabular data, and these are constructed in a way that makes them accessible.
• When there is a video to watch, we also provide an alternative textual description.
• Images that are relevant to the content also have an alternative textual description. This is beneficial both for blind users and for those accessing the website through text browsers or who have the image option of their browser disabled.
• We have limited the use of JavaScript to a minimum. At the same time, we have ensured that where it is used, there is no barrier to entry, providing access to the same content by alternative means.
• We advise users when a new window is opened. This is beneficial for visually impaired users and those with cognitive difficulties.
• We have labelled the fields of forms and have arranged them so that they follow a logical reading order.

Current state

The volume of accessible pages at the time of publication is 50%. We are working towards having all of the pages accessible by April.

If, despite the efforts made, you should find a page that has not been adapted to the specified objectives anywhere on the website, please let us know by contacting us by mail, so that we can revise and correct the problem.

How to navigate without the use of the mouse. Keyboard shortcuts

A series of combinations of keys has been devised to enable navigation through the most common content of the Agency website without the need to use the mouse.

Speed, comfort and accessibility for visually impaired people and those with motor difficulties are some examples of those who will benefit from these keyboard instructions.

The options defined are combined with the Alt or Control keys, depending on the browser:

• [Alt | Ctrl] + 1: Direct access to the content of the page open in the browser.
• [Alt | Ctrl] + 2: Access to the Agency title navigation bar.
• [Alt | Ctrl] + 3: Places the cursor in the Agency search engine (currently filtered by the Department of the Environment and Housing website).
• [Alt | Ctrl] + 4: Go to the home page.
• [Alt | Ctrl] + 5: Open the site map page.