Skip to Content Skip to HDC Navigation Skip to Apple Best Practice Navigation

 

Accessibility

Help with seeing our website

This page tells you how you can change the settings on your computer in order to see our website content better.

Accessible design

We have tried to use combinations of colours that provide sufficient contrast between foreground and background across the website. Below we provide instructions on customising the most common browsers. For more information on other operating systems, visit the BBC’s My Web My Way website.

If you spot anything that gives you problems on our website please let us know by emailing us at hdc@hdc.org.uk .

Making text larger in your browser

Below we provide instructions on how to make text larger for two common browsers. For more information on how to do this on other browsers, see the BBC’s My Web My Way website.

Internet Explorer

  • Go to the View menu using your mouse or by pressing Alt + V.
  • Select the Text Size option using your mouse or by pressing X.
  • Choose your preferred text size using your mouse or by using the up and down arrow keys and pressing Enter or by clicking on it.

Firefox

Follow these steps to increase or decrease the size of the text for the web page you are viewing:

  1. Open the View menu with the mouse or by press Alt + V.
  2. Select the Text Size option with the mouse or by pressing Z.
  3. Increase or decrease the text size with the mouse or by using the up and down arrow keys and pressing Enter.
  4. Alternatively you can press Ctrl and ‘+’ to increase the text size, Ctrl and ‘-‘ to decrease the text size. Ctrl and 0 returns you to the normal size.

Follow these steps to set a minimum text size for all pages you visit:

  1. Open the Tools menu with the mouse or press Alt + T.
  2. Click on Options, or press O, to open the Options dialog box.
  3. Click the Content tab or use the arrow keys until it is highlighted (in blue).
  4. In the Fonts & Colours box click on Advanced, or press Alt + D, to open the Fonts dialog box
  5. Click on ‘Minimum font size’ box or press Alt + O. Use the up and down arrows to select a new font size and press Enter.
  6. Click the OK button or press Enter.
  7. Click OK button or tab to OK button and press Enter.

If this does not work it could be because your computer settings cannot be changed due to local IT policies. Contact your local IT support for further help.

Changing the colours in your browser

Below we provide instructions on how to change text and background colours for two common browsers. For more information on how to do this on other browsers, see the BBC’s My Web My Way website.

Internet Explorer

  1. Open the Tools menu with the mouse or by pressing Alt + T.
  2. Select the Internet Options option with the mouse or by pressing O.
  3. Select the Accessibility button with the mouse or by pressing Alt + E.
  4. Check the ‘Ignore colours specified on web page’ checkbox with the mouse or by pressing Alt + C.
  5. Click the OK button with the mouse or press Enter to return to Internet Options.

At this point it might appear that little has happened, but the website is now using the colour scheme you have on your computer. If you are happy with the colours click OK or press Enter to return to the browser. If however you still need to change the text or background colours on the web page take the following steps:

  1. With the Internet Options box still open click on the Colors button or press Alt + O.
  2. The default setting is to have the ‘Use Windows colors’ option selected; to use your own colours click the box to remove the tick with the mouse or press Alt + W.
  3. Select either the Text button with the mouse or by pressing Alt + T, or the Background button with the mouse, or by pressing Alt + B.
  4. Select the colour of your choice with the mouse or by using the arrow keys to highlight it and then pressing Spacebar to select.
  5. Click the OK button with the mouse or press Enter.
  6. Repeat the process of selecting a colour for visited Alt + I and unvisited Alt + N links if needed.
  7. When you have changed all the colours you want click OK or press Enter to return to the Internet Options box.
  8. Click the OK button with the mouse or press Tab until it is selected and press Enter once which will return you to Internet Explorer.

If this does not work it could be because your computer settings cannot be changed due to local IT policies. Contact your local IT support for further help.

Firefox

  1. Click the Tools menu or press Alt + T.
  2. Click Options or press O to display the Options dialog box.
  3. Click the Content tab or use the arrow keys until it is highlighted (in blue).
  4. Click on Colours or press Alt + C to open the Colours dialog box.
  5. To use your Windows colour scheme settings in Firefox click on the ‘Use system colors’ checkbox, or press Alt + S to select it.
  6. Next click on Allow pages select their own colours, instead of my selections above or press Alt + A to deselect it.
  7. Click OK or press Enter to return to the options dialog box.
  8. Click the OK button, or press Tab until the OK button is selected and press Enter, to return to Firefox.

Alternatively to set text and background colours just for Firefox:

  1. Make sure the ‘Use system colors’ checkbox is unchecked by clicking on it if selected or press Alt + S to deselect it if it is selected.
  2. For your text colour, click the colour swatch next to the Text heading and click on the colour you want to use, or press Alt + T to jump to the text colour palette and use the cursor keys to browse the list of colours and then press Enter to chose the highlighted colour.
  3. For your background colour, click the colour swatch next to the Background heading and click on the colour you want to use, or press Alt + B to jump to the background colour palette and use the cursor keys to browse the list of colours and then press Enter to choose the highlighted colour.
  4. Next click on ‘Allow pages select their own colours, instead of my selections above’ or press Alt + A to deselect it.
  5. Click OK or press Enter to return to the options dialog box.
  6. Click the OK button, or press Tab until the OK button is selected and press Enter, to return to Firefox.
  7. Click on the ‘Reload current page’ button on the Navigation toolbar or press Ctrl + R to reload the page with your colour settings.

If this does not work it could be because your computer settings cannot be changed due to local IT policies. Contact your local IT support for further help.

More information

For more information on help with seeing websites including screen magnifying software, making your mouse pointer easier to see and using your own style sheets and other useful tips, go to the BBC’s My Web My Way website.

If you have any feedback you would like to share with us about seeing the content of our website, send us an email. We would like to hear from you.