What is (website) accessibility?
Accessibility refers to ensuring that access to information is available to the widest possible audience as defined by the W3C’s Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.0.
Accessibility is about making things usable to all people, whatever their age, ability or disability.
Accessibility compliance
The City of Armadale is committed to being an accessible and inclusive City. We strive to ensure that information published on this website is accessible to all users including older people as well as people with visual, hearing, cognitive or motor impairments, and that the technology we use does not interfere or deny any user from accessing this information.
Our website has been designed in accordance with the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) internationally recognised Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI) guidelines. The WAI is a set of guidelines for producing usable and accessible websites. Detailed information can be found on the Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI) website.
Our website aims to conform to Level AA of the WCAG 2.0.
We recognise that some information on this website is not as accessible as it could be. Information and online accessibility is an ongoing process and we are continually working to improve the accessibility of this website. We understand that some file formats can be difficult to access, that is why, where possible, we have provided alternative formats. However, some documents on this website, such as archival documents, cannot be made fully accessible.
If you experience any accessibility problems with our website or with any of the information or documents contained within it please contact us. Also, see disclaimer below.
Accessibility Features
To help you use our website, the following features are either provided or supported:
Readability
We make every effort to ensure this website is easy to read using 'plain English' wherever possible, while ensuring the website's design is not an obstacle to its usability or readability. Visually, we take care not to use all capitalised, small cap, or italicised text. Our text is styled only with sans serif font family, and with no kerning. The layout justification on our text headings and paragraphs are either left justified or centred, and never block or full justified across the page.
Skip to content
A 'skip to content' link appears at the top of every page, in the header area. Selecting the 'skip to content' link will take you to the page's main content area.
Increasing and decreasing text size
To scale the font size, use your browsers resizing function. The latest version of several web browsers allow users to easily increase the font size for better readability. Hold down the Ctrl key (Command key on a Macintosh) and press the + (plus) key. You can also decrease the font size by holding down the Ctrl or Command key and pressing the - (minus) key. Additionally, the Ctrl key (Command key on a Macintosh) and scroll the mouse centre wheel forward or backward, increases or decreases the font size. Both of these methods also work on PDF pages as well.
Also, you may find instructions on the Web Accessibility Initiative site to be helpful. If you are still unsuccessful, you might consider upgrading to the latest version of your browser.
Images
We ensure that titles, text, and alternative (alt) text is given for images and pictures on this website to provide screen readers users access to the information or what it conveys.
CSS
Style sheets are used to format page content on this site are designed using cascading style sheets (CSS). This allows accessibility or keyboard only users to disable the formatting provided and apply their own formatting, if they choose. Style sheets are disabled within an Internet browser's settings or preferences options.
Keyboard navigation for links and form elements
In most browsers, you can use the 'Tab' key to move between links without having to use the mouse. When you are on a link you wish to visit, pressing 'Enter' will take you to the linked page.
If you are in a form, you can also use the 'Tab' key to move between form elements (such as text boxes and radio buttons). Where there are options, for example in a drop-down menu, you can use the arrow keys to select your desired option. When you want to submit or cancel a form, tab through to the relevant button and press the 'Enter' key.
YouTube
The City of Armadale is committed to ensuring all video content is accessible and strives to meet the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines, Version 2.0 to Level AA wherever possible. However as our videos appear on the website using YouTube, a third-party product, technical issues may occur including empty links and headings that are either empty or nonsensical. The following information from the YouTube Help function about accessibility provisions may be helpful: Using YouTube with a screen reader, Turning captions on and off, and Changing caption font and format.
Disclaimer
Third party applications
The City is not responsible for third party applications or how they access the information on the active.armadale.wa.gov.au website.
Third party applications on this website include:
- envibe
- Mailchimp
PDFs
You will need Adobe Reader to open PDF files and it includes screen reading functionality. It can be downloaded at Adobe.com for free.
Online forms – check box and radio buttons and colour contrast ratios
Whilst the City of Armadale has gone to great lengths to make all of its online forms AA accessible, the use of check box and radio buttons in some browsers will be using the default border which has a low colour contrast ratio.