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Access Keys

It was the aim of Bodmin Town Council to create a new website by 2008 according to the standards set by the World Wide Web Consortium in both terms of web code quality and accessibility.

Apart from downloadable PDF documents, it is our aim that every page on this website conforms to Web Content and Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG 1.0) Priority Level 3 (AAA) when tested using online automated testing. Manual tests are also performed where the automated testing programs are limited.





Keeping to such strict standards is essentially an ongoing process.  For this reason, not all pages may be compliant all the time and from time to time we perform maintenance sweeps to re-establish guideline conformance. In addition, we recognise that there are often issues with web development as new guidelines are published to improve standards even further. One such issue revolves around different interpretations of WCAG 1.0 and we therefore accept that there may be a few instances where, beyond the automated tests, this website might not be 100% compliant.

Bodmin Town Council is nevertheless committed to helping people with disabilities to access all its website information and we would be happy to discuss any genuine accessibility problems encountered when using assistive technologies in the hope of providing a helpful solution.

Hand in hand with accessibility standards, we have also been committed to producing better web code which further benefits the end users browsing experience. Periodic tests try to ensure that this website passes HTML validation testing as W3C XHTML 1.0 Transitional and CSS validation as W3C CSS2.




Although cross browser compatible, this website is best viewed in Internet Explorer at a resolution of 1024 x 768. This is because there may be a few minor differences in terms of layout and display on some web pages when using other web browsers.

Pages will still be readable if a browser does not support Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) and for users dependant upon screen readers, we recommend that CSS styles are turned off. Some Screen reader programs have the capability of removing CSS styles.

Browsers which do not support JavaScript functions will still be able to show all content, with the user being directed, if necessary, to default pages where information which would otherwise be unavailable can be found. 'NOSCRIPT' tags also provide information to those without a JavaScript enable browser. To find out how you can enable JavaScript in your browser, visit Google's help page.




We have deliberately incorporated some specific accessibility friendly functions on this website in the interests of promoting a better user experience for keyboard only and partially sighted or colour-blind users. These include:

• Access Keys – Short cuts for keyboard only users. You can view the access keys with a JavaScript enabled browser on any page by clicking on the Access Keys link at the top right.

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• Background Highlighted Link Text – this helps keyboard only users to identify links when tabbing.

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  Breadcrumb Trails – a directory trail showing which website directory the current page relates to. Very useful for opening a main section or directory page.

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• CSS Contrast Page – a higher contrast colour version of any web page is available by selecting the 'Contrast' button next to the resize buttons found in every web page’s heading section.

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• CSS Text Resizing – use the text resize buttons ('Size 1'; 'Size 2'; 'Default') at the top of each page to enlarge text. The whole page will enlarge. We recommend that you use this feature first before attempting to use your browser’s text resize functions. For greater enhancement, use your browser's text resize function after applying 'Size 2'. Doing this will depend on your browser type. For instance, for IE7, either put page/text resize to 'large' or 'larger' by clicking on 'Page' and then 'Text Size'.  Alternatively, you can use IE7's page magnifier (located at the bottom right of the IE7 browser) which will enlarge the page in proportion to size up to 400%. Mozilla Firefox browsers also have a text resize function which can bring text up to an even larger size if necessary.

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• Limited Scrolling – although not a feature for every page, most pages have been ‘cut’ in length to reduce excessive scrolling, making use of JavaScript functions to hide / reveal content in a variety of helpful ways.

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Specific functions can pose particular difficulties when it comes to accessibility. Provided below are some issues connected with this website that have been encountered with advisory notes:

• 1. Operating Google Maps (keyboard only) – Interactive Map page:
  
  Advisory Note: We would encourage keyboard only users to connect to 'Google Maps' (via the 'View Larger Map' link).  Operating the large map on Google's 'Google Maps' page via the keyboard requires use of special keyboard shortcuts. Clicking on the map first, may however, be a prerequisite. Learn more about Google Maps keyboard shortcuts by following this link and viewing the bottom part of the page: http://www.google.co.uk/help/maps/tour/

  
  
  2. Printing web pages:
  
  Advisory Note: Printing web pages has always posed difficulties with web designers because of the end-user's expectation that the printed page will look like what they see on screen when modern browsers vary with respect to output. The Bodmin Town Council website is configured to allow the full content of the page to be printed - including all the information in hidden areas usually controlled by JavaScript functionality. This prevents some content from not being missed out as is sometimes the case when printing web pages.
  
  You can see how web pages on this site will look when printed by clicking on the "Print Preview" button which can be found on the top right of this page (others pages will print according to a similar layout).   To return to screen view after pressing the "Print Preview" button, click on the "Normal" button.
  
  To print a replica of the page layout you see on screen, we suggest taking a screen shot using the "PrtSc" key on your keyboard (refer to your keyboard manual to find out which other key you may need to use in conjunction with it) and then pasting the screen shot into a word processor document before enlarging it.
  
  To find out more information about printing web pages, connect to an excellent article on 456 Berea Street
  
  
  

• 3. Moving or animated parts on this website:
  
  Advisory Note:  Any moving parts on this website can be disabled by first disabling JavaScript or disabling CSS (Mozilla Firefox allows you to do this in the browser - just select view/page style/no style). All content will still be accessible.

  
  Accessibility toolbars are extremely useful for toggling functions like CSS and JavaScript on or off.
  
  Download Accessibility Toolbar for Internet Explorer or Opera: Vision Australia
  
  
  

• 4. PDF Documents:
  
  Advisory Note:  Downloadable PDF documents may not be 100% readable by screen readers. However, audio versions of these documents can be supplied by genuine request.