Accessibility Information
This site has been designed so that as many people as possible can access it.
Q. What does this mean in practice?
A. It means that pages can be read by any web browser, but the contemporary design will only be displayed in modern visual browsers.
This site boasts a number of accessibility features.
Font Sizes
The fonts sizes are specified in relative terms so that they follow the size set on your browser.
Images
Graphics files are only used for non-text items — JPEGs for pictures and GIF s for logos. Many graphics are hidden from text-only browsers. At the very least pictures have a short description, and some have a long description.
Document Structure
The underlying code of each page has a linear structure and HTML headings have been used correctly so that non-visual browsers (screen readers) can read each page in a logical sequence. No tables or frames are used for layout purposes. Some tables are used for displaying our schedule dates and these have been marked up to aid assistive technologies. All tables have a summary.
Every page begins with a logo, RNZI heading text, and this is followed by the page content. The menu is at the end of the page and is marked up as a list. The menus from the home page lead to pages which have their own menus leading to sub pages.
A complete list of links can be accessed via the site-map page.
User Style Sheet ID
For those who utilise user style sheets in their browser the site uses a <body> id of www-rnzi-com. This enables those with the skills to restyle the site to fit their personal requirements to do so. Unfortunately, we cannot provide assistance in designing your own style sheet.
Q. Why have we done this?
A. Less than 6% of people now use browsers that cannot display this site close to how we intend. If we coded this site to look the same in every browser (or the main ones), it would become more difficult to use for those with disabilities.
For example, many people with visual impairments set the Text Size on Microsoft Internet Explorer to Largest. If a site (and many do) uses small fixed font sizes, the page text stays the same size and is unreadable.
We also don't use tables for laying out our pages because it confuses some screen readers.
Q. How have we done this?
A. We have used the web standards recommended by the World Wide Web Consortium and promoted by the Web Standards Project.
Specifically, these are XHTML 1.0 Strict and CSS 2. All pages on this site validate to these standards.
Q. What if I can’t access something?
A.We’ve done our best on a very small budget, and where ever possible have used current “best practices”. But if you can’t access some of our content please let us know and we’ll do our best to fix it so that you can.
Site Credits
The site was coded with Macromedia Dreamweaver MX Studio, and features a custom Content Management System written in PHP.
The Style Sheets were written in Bradsoft Top Style Pro.
The Perl scripts that run some of the back-end of the site were coded using Xarka Optiperl.
The site was tested using Mozilla — an open source browser — Microsoft IE 5.0, and Netscape 4.76.
