Adapting this website

This page contains information to help you use this website and the documents published within it:

Downloading and viewing PDF files

Many of the documents on this website are provided as PDF files. We realise that visually impaired users might have difficulty accessing these files.

Visit Adobe for free tools to convert PDFs into plain text or HTML, as well as more information about PDFs and accessibility.

Download Adobe Acrobat Reader

Adobe online conversion tools

Adobe accessibility resource centre

Adjusting your font size and colour

You can change the font size and colour of this website. This might be useful if you have low vision or find it easier to read larger print.

Changing font size using Internet Explorer:

Select View at the top of your window.
Select the Text Size option.
Choose the size of text you require.

To ignore font and background colours:

Select Internet Options from the Tools menu.
On the general tab of the window that appears, click on Accessibility.
This leads to a menu where you can choose to ignore the way the page is formatted.
Return to the Internet Options menu and use the Colours and Fonts buttons to set your preferences.

Changing colours using Internet Explorer:

Select Tools at the top of your browser window.
Select Internet Options.
Click on Accessibility in the bottom right of the screen.
Tick Ignore colours specified on web pages.
Click OK.
In the Internet Options box (if it is no longer open, re-open it from the Tools menu) click Colours.
Uncheck the box marked Use Windows colours.
Click the rectangle to the right of Text and choose a text colour.
Click the rectangle to the right of Background and choose a background colour.
Click OK.

Changing text font using Netscape Communicator:

Click Appearance.
Click Font.
Choose the variable width font and fixed width font you want to use.
Click OK.

If you want to set these fonts for all future use on your browser, click Use my default fonts overriding document specified fonts.

Changing text size using Netscape Navigator:

Go to the View menu and choose Increase Font until the text is the size you require.

Changing colour using Netscape Communicator:

Click Appearance.
Click Colours.
Select the box next to Text and choose a colour.
Click OK.
Select the box next to Background and choose a colour.
Click OK.
Click OK to close Preferences.

Speech enabling this website (BrowseAloud)

To speech enable this website, please visit the BrowseAloud website.

Full instructions for installing BrowseAloud can be found here.

Speech enabling is not designed to replace screen readers for blind and partially sighted people. It offers another way to access the content on our website and can be useful for people who find it hard to read online. This may include people with dyslexia or learning difficulties, people whose first language is not English, or people with milder visual impairment. The Browsealoud software highlights each word on the screen as it reads it out.