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Accessibility
We recognise the importance of providing a website that can be used in a variety of ways which do not depend on a single sense, ability, or technology. Building a website which is usable, desirable and accessible for all user groups, including the disabled, is our ongoing commitment.
Our website has been tested thoroughly in Internet Explorer 6+ and Mozilla Firefox 2+. They can be downloaded for free below:
Download latest Flash and Browser versions
Download the latest version of Flash Player (v10) click here
Download the latest version of Internet Explorer (v8) click here
Download the latest version of Firefox (v3.6) click here
Standards Compliance
This website conforms to W3C's Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 1.0, level A.
Below there is a list of critical requirements, which alone cover nearly 40% of the requirements highlighted by W3C accessibility problems (according to DRC report). These have been given extra attention and the highest priority during evaluation.
- Provide a text equivalent for every non-text element
- Ensure that foreground and background colour combinations provide sufficient contrast when viewed by someone having colour deficits or when viewed on a black and white screen
- Ensure that pages are usable when scripts, applets, or other programmatic objects are turned off or not supported. If this is not possible, provide equivalent information on an alternative accessible page
- Until user agents allow users to freeze moving content, avoid movement in pages
- Until user agents allow users to turn off spawned windows, do not cause pop-ups or other windows to appear and do not change the current window without informing the use
- Divide large blocks of information into more manageable groups where natural and appropriate
- Clearly identify the target of each link
- Use the clearest and simplest language appropriate for a site's content
Semantic markup
Structured, semantic markup is used to represent document structure. H1 tags are used for main titles, h2 tags for subtitles, and so on.
Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) are used for visual layout, and Javascript is used to enhance usability and for decorative purposes, however pages are still fully accessible if these technologies are ignored or unsupported.
Images
Descriptive and meaningful text equivalents are provided for all content images, graphical buttons, symbols and objects. Images are not used to represent text, all headings are styled with the help of CSS and can be resized to suit users needs.
Colours
Website design has been tested against color contrast to ensure that all information is still clear.
Most of the text is written as black on white and is perfectly contrasting. Black on white combination passes color visibility test successfully:
- The difference in brightness between the two colours is sufficient. The threshold is 125, and the result of the foreground and background colours is 255.
- The difference in colour between the two colours is sufficient. The threshold is 500, and the result of the foreground and background colours is 765.
Font sizes
Relative units have been used in markup language and CSS, therefore website layout accommodates resizing text even in Internet Explorer for Windows.
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Milestone moment at Andrew Marvell College
15.02.12
An ancient Viking tradition was observed today at Andrew Marvell College to mark a key stage in the development of the new £27m school.
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