Accessibility
Find out how to navigate the University of Sussex website and see our accessibility statement.
Contact
If you are having trouble accessing content on this site please contact us at web-accessibility@sussex.ac.uk
There are a variety of techniques you can use to navigate our site.
You can use the top-level drop-down navigation and the site search, both of which give you access across our website and resources contained within. On most sections of the site you can use the page navigation (which appears to the left of this content) and the breadcrumb trail (which appears just above this content).
Text resizing and page zooming
Most modern browsers support some form of built-in text resizing or page zooming. Changing the text size or zoom varies depending on the browser you are using.
Resizing a page depends on the browser you are using:
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- PC / Internet Explorer 11
From the 'Tools' cog icon in the top right corner, select 'Zoom' and then choose your setting
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- PC / other browsers
Hold down the CTRL key and press + to increase the text/zoom
Hold down the CTRL key and press - to decrease the text/zoom
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- Mac / all browsers
Hold down the Command key and press + to increase the text/zoom
Hold down the Command key and press - to decrease the text/zoom
Known browser support for the site
Our site supports:
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- Internet Explorer 11 and above
- Firefox – latest version
- Safari – latest version
- Chrome – latest version
Refer to the following websites to get information relating to accessibility matters such as how to adjust your browser, computer, keyboard and mouse settings to suit your individual needs
This website is run by the University of Sussex. We want as many people as possible to be able to use this website.
That means everyone should be able to:
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- access most of the information found on the site.
- zoom most pages in up to 300% without the text spilling off the screen.
- navigate most of the website using just a keyboard.
- navigate most of the website using speech recognition software.
- listen to, and navigate, most of the website using a screen reader (including the most recent versions of JAWS, NVDA and Voiceover).
- access all video content, either visually, or through accessible technology.
We’ve also made the website text as simple as possible to understand. Within our content management system (CMS), we have a built-in readability score tool. This generates a score which tells us if our content is readable.
How accessible is this website?
The website has been developed following guidelines which are aimed at achieving a good level of accessibility – we endeavour to meet with WCAG 2.1 AA standards.
We have taken the following accessibility and usability guidelines into consideration when developing the site:
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- providing simple, consistent operable site navigation.
- providing easy to perceive and understand content.
- using style sheets for visual layout, the content can still be read with style sheets turned off or with a different style applied by your own browser set-up.
- using an easy-to-read font type.
- endeavouring to provide suitable foreground and background colour contrast.
- providing text equivalents for images, where appropriate.
- using semantic HTML to improve readability by screen readers.
- ensuring JavaScript degrades gracefully, so content is accessible without JavaScript wherever possible.
- using accessible alternatives where necessary to ensure the website is robust - such as with the modified html version of the virtual campus tour.
Some known areas where we need to improve
Some areas of the website may not meet the AA accessibility standard, such as:
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- Some of the quick navigation links are not accessible via arrow keys – Drupal have the limitation in using Arrow keys for both buttons and links. Navigation is only possible using Tab keys.
- Visual instructions for special hot keys are not provided for keyboard and screen reader users – This is a technology limitation.
- There are several issues in the pagination
1.Pagination is not implemented as a navigation region
2.List of pages is not implemented as a list
3.Meaningful names are not given for the links
The data table would need to be re-programmed to make it accessibility compliant. This is a Drupal technology limitation and not an easy fix.
- Users may experience issues while zooming text to 200% - This is a technology limitation - We cannot adjust the pop-up size in case when the pop-up is opened first and then it is text zoomed to 200%.
- Horizontal scroll bar appears in 400% zooming – This is a generic HTML page behaviour that in case of data overflow scrollbars will be automatically displayed. As there are contents which overflow the page and are meant to be displayed in the same page, scrollbars are required.
- Meaning represented by the asterisk is not defined within the page - This is a required as per business requirement.
- Where text boxes have a hidden element stating how many characters are left, Voiceover may get stuck on the hidden element. You may be able to progress by using the tab key, but Voiceovers controls would not move focus beyond these elements.
- Radio buttons may have their labels read out twice.
- When navigating into the form on each page there may have a non-descriptive layer that is read out as frame 0 each time.
There may be other areas we have yet to pick up on as we continue to audit the site. The University is in the process of improving its core web templates to meet AA standards. It has set up an accessibility working group and will be running workshops with devolved editors to promote the importance of accessibility and to make sure standards are adhered to.
Technical information about this website’s accessibility
The University of Sussex is committed to making its website accessible, in accordance with the Public Sector Bodies (Websites and Mobile Applications) (No. 2) Accessibility Regulations 2018.
This website is partially compliant with the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines version 2.1 AA standard, due to the non-compliances listed below.
This website is continually tested, and we have recently carried out tests on sample pages within our components library. We also crawl the site regularly to find issues such as where images without alt tags are located. Tests are carried out with users and via automated software.
We have tested the website using the following methods so far:
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- WebAIM colour contrast analyser
- ARC toolkit
- JAWS and NVDA screen readers for desktop
- Axe - Web Accessibility Testing extension for Chrome
What else are we doing to improve accessibility
This statement was prepared on 31 March 2021. It was last updated on 31 March 2021 and will be updated regularly as we move forward with our actions and research.
Software product related issues will be remediated during further releases.
What to do if you cannot access parts of this website
We endeavour to make the content on the website accessible to all. If you are having trouble accessing content on the website let us know and we will do our best to provide the information in another format:
Email: web-accessibility@sussex.ac.uk
We’ll consider your request and get back to you in seven days.
The Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) is responsible for enforcing the Public Sector Bodies (Websites and Mobile Applications) (No. 2) Accessibility Regulations 2018 (the ‘accessibility regulations’). If you’re not happy with how we respond to your complaint, contact the Equality Advisory and Support Service (EASS).