Accessibility
Local news should be readable by everyone in the borough. This page sets out what we do, what we know is not yet good enough, and how to tell us when something does not work.
Our commitment
We aim to meet level AA of the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.2. That is the standard UK public bodies are held to, and we think a local paper should hold itself to it too.
What we have done
- Text is real text, not pictures of text, so it can be read aloud, enlarged or restyled.
- You can zoom to 200% without losing content or having to scroll sideways.
- The site works with a keyboard alone, and the item you are on is visibly focused.
- Headings, lists and landmarks are marked up properly, so a screen reader can move through a story section by section.
- Body text is set at a comfortable size and line height, with strong contrast against its background.
- Buttons and links carry a clear description of what they do, including where the label is only an icon.
- Nothing flashes, auto-plays or moves in a way that could cause discomfort or a seizure.
- The site is built to work on a phone, which is how most people read it.
Known limitations
We would rather tell you what is not right than claim the site is perfect.
- Some older articles in our archive were published before our current standards and may have less helpful image descriptions.
- Photographs supplied by third parties may carry descriptions we did not write.
- Adverts are supplied by advertisers, and we do not control how each one is built.
- Some documents we link to are hosted by councils, courts and other organisations, and their accessibility is outside our control.
We fix what we can as we find it, and a report from a reader moves it up the list.
If you are having trouble
If any part of this site is hard to use, tell us what you were trying to do and what happened. We will try to get you the information another way — by email, in plain text, or read over the phone if that is easier.
Please do not worry about describing the problem in technical terms. “I could not read the headline on my phone” is exactly the kind of report we want.
If we do not put it right
If you contact us about an accessibility problem and are not satisfied with our response, you can contact the Equality Advisory and Support Service (EASS) at equalityadvisoryservice.com.
Tell us
Report an accessibility problem, or ask for something in a different format:
We aim to reply within five working days.