Accessibility Design Guidelines
Our website has been designed with the following accessibility guidelines in mind:
- The standard font used throughout the site has been chosen to be easily legible.
- Wherever possible, we use live text instead of graphics to reduce the download time of pages and increase your control.
- No information is exclusively conveyed using color. This doesn't mean that colors are not used to organize information; instead it means there are also other, non-color dependent ways of doing this.
- All images and hyperlinks, where appropriate, have an alternative text attribute. This means when an image or hyperlink is conveying important information its content is described with an alternative text.
- Specifically, we have attempted to comply with Section 508 referring to website accessibility standards.
- If you have difficulty accessing the site and have any comments or feedback, please do not hesitate to contact us.
Many popular browsers contain built-in accessibility tools.
Documents
Many documents on our web pages are in ASCII or HTML format, which are accessible to people who use screen reading software and to those with other vision or mobility impairments. Generally, we use Hypertext Markup Language (HTML) to create pages and documents that are accessible to those users.
Our website also contains many Adobe Acrobat PDF (Portable Document Format) files. We use this method when documents are not available in digital form, are too large or difficult to produce in HTML, or are publications where the format is critical to the usability of the document. Adobe Systems, Inc. is developing products designed to make PDF documents more accessible. Adobe's accessibility web pages describe their efforts.
Adobe Acrobat Reader software is available for free from Adobe Systems, Inc. This software allows you to view, navigate and print Portable Document Format (PDF) files. To download, install and use Adobe Acrobat Reader:
- Read the Adobe site instructions on downloading Adobe Acrobat Reader.
- Be sure to select the version of Adobe Acrobat Reader that is compatible with your system.
- Follow the installation instructions completely. (After the download, you will need to install the file by running the executable (.exe file) from your operating system.)
- Configure your browser options.
- Upgrade your version of Adobe Acrobat Reader periodically to use the latest features.
- Contact Adobe Systems, Inc. if you are having trouble installing or using their products.
Adobe Acrobat
Adobe Acrobat is required to view and print PDF documents that appear on this website.
- To download this program for free, visit the Adobe website.
- To read PDF documents with a screen reader please link to the Access Adobe website which provides useful tools and resources.
