Accessibility statement

Ease of use

We are committed to making our website as accessible and easy to use as possible for our visitors.

International online accessibility standards

We try to adhere to the most stringent standards set by the W3C, an international group responsible for setting standards for web technologies. The Consortium has set up a specialist task group, the Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI), to define standards on web accessibility for disabled users.

The WAI produces varying levels of standards and grades them in order of importance. Organisations can use these grades to decide what level of accessibility to aim for. At Northumberland Tourism we aim to stick to all of the WAI's standards.

The standards are designed to ensure that all users can access the content on our website, including:

  • Blind users
  • Partially sighted and colour-blind users
  • Deaf users
  • Hearing-impaired users
  • Users with limited mobility
  • Users with cognitive disabilities or learning difficulties
  • Users with photo-sensitive epilepsy

Website accessibility

Our website is built so users with a standards compliant or popular modern browser will be able to see the pages as they are designed. We specifically aim at the following:

  • IE 9 and above
  • Firefox*
  • Chrome*
  • Safari*

*Latest versions

If you experience difficulty and are unable to update to one of the browsers above you may find it easier to turn off CSS. Please refer to your browser's help pages for more information (in most browsers these can be accessed by pressing the F1 key or selecting Help from your browser menu).

Regular maintenance and usability testing

Each page on Visit Northumberland is regularly checked for compliance using Accessible Information Solutions tools.

Text sizes

All text on the website is resizeable using a compliant browser.

Changing font sizes
Microsoft Internet Explorer 8-10
•    In your toolbar select "Page" followed by "Text size" and change to your preference.
•    Select "Page" followed by "Zoom" and adjust to your preference, or use the keys "CTRL" and + or - at the same time. 
•    "CTRL" and "0" (zero) will reset the zoom.

Mozilla Firefox
•    Hold down the Ctrl button on your keyboard and press the plus (+) key 
•    You will find that this will enlarge the text, to enlarge again repeat the procedure
•    Keep repeating until the text is enlarged to your requirements If you need to make the text smaller press Ctrl on your keyboard and the minus ( - ) key

Google Chrome
•    Click the 'Customise and Control' spanner symbol in the top right hand corner (Alt + E).
•    Select 'Settings' ('Preferences' on Mac and Linux)
•    Click on 'Under the Bonnet' and customise your fonts and font size in the 'Web Content' section

Apple Safari
•    Hold down the Apple Key and press the (+) key 
•    You will find that this will enlarge the text, to enlarge again repeat the procedure
•    Keep repeating until the text is enlarged to your requirements 
•    If you need to make the text smaller press the Apple Key on your keyboard and press the (-) key

Document downloads

There are a number of PDF documents available for download across the site. You can find out more about how to configure the free Adobe Reader software to obtain greater access to PDF files by visiting the Adobe site.

Download Adobe Reader for free

Navigation aids

All pages across the site also include a link to the homepage, and have a consistent global navigation.

Layout

The site uses Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) to control all presentation and layout so that content is well structured and easily accessible via assistive devices.

Images

Content images (i.e. those not used for overal site design) used on this site include descriptive ALT and TITLE attributes.