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 School of Geography and the Environment

University of Oxford

 Oxford University Centre for the Environment

Please Note: The Oxford University Centre for the Environment (OUCE) is now known as the School of Geography and the Environment. Please visit our new website and update your bookmarks accordingly.

Web Accessibility

The Oxford University Centre for the Environment (OUCE) at the University of Oxford, is committed to providing an accessible web presence that gives members of the public and members of the OUCE and University communities full access to our information, courses and activities offered publicly through the web.

This webpage includes guidance information for readers of our website and our web accessibility statement. Please note that the Web Accessibility Statement below applies specifically to the OUCE website (www.ouce.ox.ac.uk). You should check any affiliated or associated websites directly for their accessibility statements. The OUCE is not responsible for, nor endorses, the content of any websites or resources which may be linked to from this website.

Any queries or feedback regarding our web accessibility statement should be sent to the OUCE webmaster using the contact details available at the bottom of each webpage.

Any changes to the web accessibility statement will be posted on this page.
Last updated: Thursday 17 December 2009

The Oxford University Web Accessibility Standard

The University of Oxford endorses the Guidelines of the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) as the standard for World Wide Web accessibility. The University has adopted WAI AA as the minimum standard for compliance for its web pages, and requires that as many AAA checkpoints as possible are also met.


  • Web pages published or hosted by the University should comply with the University's Web Accessibility Standard.
  • A text-only version of an inaccessible web page should be offered only in cases where extraordinary measures would be necessary to make that web page compliant. The text-only version of the web page must contain the same information and equivalent functionality and be updated whenever the inaccessible web page is updated.
  • Where undue administrative or financial burdens may be incurred in achieving accessible web pages, alternative formats may be used to provide information to individuals requiring it.

Web Accessibility Statement

Standards Compliance

The OUCE website meets the checkpoints of the W3C Web Accessibility Initiative's (WAI) Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 1.0 (WCAG), as specified by the University of Oxford Web Accessibility Policy to Level-A standards, as well as Level-AA and Level-AAA where possible. The School of Geography and the Environment will be working towards adopting the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 2.0 for the OUCE website during 2010.

This website uses structured semantic XHTML 1.0 Strict markup code, which validates using the W3C MarkUp Validation Service. The website uses Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) stylesheets, which can be read by CSS compliant and non-compliant browsers, for presentation and these similarly validate using the W3C CSS Validation Service. We are commited to using web standards where possible, and the avoidance of browser specific hacks (what ever technology you use to view our website, you should be given exactly the same information). Our stylesheets deliberately use relative sizes where possible to allow the the reader maximum control over the website's presentation.

The OUCE is continually reviewing, assessing and improving its methods of providing of online information and has tested this website on a variety of major browsers and plaforms. If you use assistive technology and the format of any material on this website interferes with your ability to access the information, please contact the OUCE webmaster using the contact details available at the bottom of each webpage.

Non-Compliance

Where we have chosen not to meet WCAG 1.0 Level-AA at present:

  • 3.5 - For the purpose of clarity, some headers have not been nested sequentially in the main content (i.e. H5 may follow H3 in some instances).
  • 13.1 - For the purpose of clarity, different link phrases may be used in different contexts to point to the same URL.
  • The site map is manually generated and predominantly covers only the top levels of the website.


Where we have chosen not to meet WCAG 1.0 Level-AAA at present:

  • 9.4 - A tab order has not been established using the 'tabindex' attribute.
  • 9.5 - We have chosen not to employ access-keys.
  • 10.4 - We have chosen to leave some form controls (e.g. text boxes) blank.
  • 10.5 - Adjacent links which are contained within separate structural elements may appear to be only separated by whitespace.
Accesskeys

Given the current lack of consistent browser support, potential interference with browser and assistive technology functionality, and a lack of a widely implemented and workable set of access-key mappings, the University currently considers defining and implementing access-keys a low-priority task. This situation is under review and if a standard emerges, a common set of access keys will be established for University sites.

Guidance for readers

Alternative formats

We offer alternative formats for resources on this website. To request an alternative format please contact the the OUCE webmaster. Provision will normally be within 15 working days of acknowledgement. We normally offer the following alternative formats: Braille; Large Print; and Audio (CD).

Plug-in applications

In general we have tried to provide all official and authoritative content on this website in an accessible manner using valid XHTML 1.0 strict and CSS. However, you may occasionally need to use plug-in applications in order to access or download some files on this site (e.g. some documents specifically formatted for printing are provided as PDFs).

Here is a list of relevant applications for irregular file types used on this website and links to free viewer / application downloads:

Javascripts and applets: Some elements of this website may make use of JavaScript or applets. No official or authoritative information is solely provided in this manner. Every effort has been made to ensure that this code is compatible with all browser versions.

Adobe® Shockwave® and Flash®: Some elements of this website may make use of Flash® or Shockwave®. No official or authoritative information is solely provided in this manner. Every effort has been made to ensure that these are compatible with all browser versions.


Portable Document Format (PDF) icon Portable Document Format (PDF): PDFs are principally used to provide documents formatted for printing. No official or authoritative information is solely provided in this manner. Where accessibility issues arise with respect to these files please contact the webmaster who will arrange for the information to provided in an alternate format.


Microsoft Excel icon Microsoft Excel documents: This website generally avoids providing information using Microsoft Excel documents, but may use them where necessary to provide formatted versions of spreadsheets and tabular information. Where accessibility issues arise with respect to these files please contact the information provider who will arrange for the information to provided in an alternate format. No official or authoritative information is solely provided in this manner.


Microsoft PowerPoint icon Microsoft PowerPoint files and slideshows: This website generally avoids providing information using Microsoft PowerPoint documents, but may use them where necessary to provide formatted versions of presentations (e.g. recent lectures and seminars). Where accessibility issues arise with respect to these files please contact the information provider in the first instance for an accessible version of their presentation. No official or authoritative information is solely provided in this manner.


Microsoft Word icon Microsoft Word documents: This website generally avoids providing information using Microsoft Word documents, but may use them where necessary to provide formatted versions of forms (e.g. application forms) that can be completed electronically. Where accessibility issues arise with respect to these files please contact the information provider who will arrange for the information to provided in an alternate format. No official or authoritative information is solely provided in this manner.

Display

The OUCE website has been designed to be readable on all browsers at a wide variety of screen resolutions. The website has also been designed to be compatible with text only browsers by default and all key content should be accessible regardless of the type of browser or operating system. The use of colours on this site have been carefully chosen to ensure their accessibility, and can be replaced by readers if necessary.

Images are sized absolutely for display in the context of the surrounding webpage and alternate text is provided for all images (including design images) as a default. Alternate text for background title images is provided in the footer. Where necessary, links to larger versions of images are provided and plain text descriptions of figures are provided through the 'long description' [d] hyperlink.

Navigation

A consistent navigation menu ('button bar' style navigation menu) is provided at the beginning / top of every webpage throughout the website. This allows easy access to all the major sections of the website through text links.

In addition to this, each webpage contains a classification path / 'breadcrumb trail' showing the location of the current webpage within the website architecture.

A navigation menu (left-hand side column) is also provided throughout the website with standard content / section-specific navigation links and skip / shortcut style navigation links. Links to additional non-essential related information may be presented thereafter (right-hand side column).

External links and links to non-standard resources are clearly marked as such with an icons and link titles.

The OUCE's website does not principally use images as a means of providing navigation links or page / site location information, and where these are used the navigation / location information is also replicated in plain text.

Other navigational aids include a search facility and a site map / directory listing tree available from every page.

Printing

The OUCE website has been designed to be printer friendly through a CSS print stylesheet, which allows the plain text version of the content section of the website to be printed. Documents specifically formatted for printing are supplied as PDFs where possible.

Making changes to your operating system

Many browsers and operating systems now actively support accessibility allowing you to modify how our websites content is displayed. This website has been designed to enable this level of user control. More information on how to make full use of accessibility settings in browsers and operating systems is available online at: