What are we doing?
To help us make the Diocese of Sheffield website a positive place for everyone, we’ve been using the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.1. These guidelines explain how to make web content more accessible for people with disabilities and user-friendly for everyone.
For people who can’t see very well
- The colours and the contrast between colours have been selected with this in mind for instance the background colour of the website is not pure white which can cause glare.
- The size of text is appropriate throughout the site and works well with zooming.
- The choice of fonts is considered for clarity.
- Colour is not used as the only way of conveying information or identifying content.
For people who are blind
- Alternative tags for images, and title tags for links that are used throughout help how a screen reader interprets the elements on a page.
- Videos with quality audio are used.
For people who can’t hear very well
- Subtitles are available on video content.
- Users can pause, stop, or adjust the volume of audio that is played.
- No background audio is used.
For people who find a keyboard or mouse hard to use
- The design allows tabbing to be used to navigate to parts of the page.
For people who find words difficult:
- The length of sentences and paragraphs as well as the complexity of the vocabulary are checked.
- The choice of fonts and size of text have been carefully selected.
How are we doing?
We’ve worked hard on the website and believe we’ve achieved our goal of accessibility. We monitor the website regularly to maintain this, but if you do find any problems, please get in touch.
Some advice for making any website more accessible…
Disability should not prevent access to websites. PC and MAC computers both have varying inbuilt settings that help all users access and enter information.
We have used Microsoft Windows 10 and 11 operating systems as examples but there will be similar features and support in all operating systems (please consult your manuals or online help to find out specifics for your system).
In Microsoft Windows 10 and 11 there is an ‘Accessibility’ centre which gives quick links to accessibility features – simply press the Windows logo key and ‘U’ to open the centre
Windows Magnifier
This is found in modern versions of Windows and allows the screen to be seen more clearly.
Make webpages easier to see
For better visibility of webpages, you can change the fonts, font sizes, text and background colours, zoom in on a webpage to enlarge it or zoom out to see more of the page on the screen.
Zoom – with a webpage open, press Ctrl and +(plus) to zoom in, or Ctrl and – (minus) to zoom out.
Change font size – In Internet Explorer press the Alt key to display the menu bar. Tap or click View, and then tap or click Text Size.
Change the font formatting, and screen colours – in Internet Explorer press the Alt key to display the menu bar, and tap or click Internet Options from the Tools menu. Look for Appearance settings.
Windows Narrator
Again this is available as standard in modern versions of Windows and acts as a simple screen reader.
On-screen keyboard
Many modern devices and operating systems (e.g. Windows or MAC) that have touchscreen technology will provide an on-screen keyboard which allows entry using the mouse or other pointing device rather than the keyboard.
Subtitles on videos
Many of our videos on this site will be presented with closed caption subtitles. For YouTube videos click on the Closed Caption option in the bottom right corner.
For mobile devices, you may need to adjust your settings to allow this. This setting can be found in your Accessibility section of Settings. (e.g. iPhone Settings > Accessibility > Subtitles & Captioning > Closed Captions ON/OFF
High contrast
Contrast can be increased by changing the ‘THEME’ on your computer.
In Windows 10 and 11 press the Windows logo key with ‘U’ to open up the Accessibility Centre then look for ‘Set up High Contrast’
Speech recognition
This is available as standard on modern operating systems and helps you enter information using the voice. Some training of the system will be required so that it recognises your voice and you improve your understanding of how it works best.
Make the mouse easier to use
The settings can be adjusted so that the mouse can be seen more easily; e.g. it can be made bigger and move more slowly if necessary.
In Windows 10 and 11 open up the Accessibility centre – hold down the Windows logo button with ‘U’ then you can:
- Change the colour and size of mouse pointers. You can use these options to make the mouse pointer larger or change the colour to make it easier to see.
- Turn on Mouse Keys. You can use this option to control the movement of the mouse pointer by using the numeric keypad.
- Activate a window by hovering over it with the mouse. This option makes it easier to select and activate a window by pointing at it with the mouse rather than by clicking it.
Use text or visual alternatives for sounds
System sounds can be replaced by visual cues and display text captions for spoken dialogue in multimedia programs.
In Windows 10 and 11 open up the Accessibility centre – hold down the Windows logo button with ‘U’ then Use text or visual alternatives for sounds. From here you can:
- Turn on visual notifications for sounds. This option replaces system sounds with visual cues, such as a flash on the screen, so you can see notifications even when they’re not heard. You can also choose how you want sound notifications to warn you.
- Turn on text captions for spoken dialogue. With this option, Windows will display text captions in place of sounds to indicate that activity is happening on your PC (for example, when a document starts or finishes printing).
Keyboard shortcuts and sticky keys
These alleviate the need to press more than one key simultaneously.
In Windows 10 and 11 open up the Accessibility centre – hold down the Windows logo button with ‘U’ then Make the keyboard easier to use.
Turn off website styles
It may be that you are struggling with the style, colours, fonts or contrasts of a particular site.
All popular browsers such as Internet Explorer, Safari or Firefox, allow you to turn off the styling usually using the ‘Disable CSS’ or ‘No Style’ setting. Use an internet search to find out how to do this for your browser.
In Internet Explorer 11 press the Alt key to display the menu bar. Select View > Style > No Style