Accessibility

Persimmon recognises 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.

Standards Compliance

Our site conforms to W3C's Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 1.0, level A.

Below there's a list of critical requirements, which alone cover nearly 40% of highlighted by W3C accessibility problems. These have been given extra attention and highest priority during expert 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 user
• 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

Accessibility Features

Navigation aids

Menu links are grouped and an option to bypass navigation is provided. Link to skip navigation has no visible anchor text, and is provided specifically for people using a screen reader.

Most browsers support jumping to specific links by typing keys defined on the website. The following access keys are available throughout Persimmon site:

• S - Skip navigation
• 1 - Home page
• 3 - Site map
• 9 - Contact us
• 0 - Accessibility statement
• T - Top of the page

Wherever possible, they do not conflict with commonly-used screen reader and browser keyboard shortcuts.

Access keys are selected in different ways in different browsers:

• Internet Explorer 8, Internet Explorer 7 on Windows:
  hold down the Alt key and the access key, then release them and hit Enter to activate the link.
• Internet Explorer 6, Internet Explorer 5 on Windows:
  hold down the Alt key and the access key, then press enter
• Internet Explorer 4 on Windows
  hold Alt and the access key.
• Internet Explorer 5 and upwards for Mac
  Ctrl and the access key (unfortunately, access keys are not supported in earlier versions).
• Firefox 2, Firefox 3 Windows
  Shift + Alt and the access key.
• Firefox - older versions
  Alt and access key.
• Firefox Mac
  Ctrl and access key.
• Netscape 6 and upwards for Windows
  Alt and access key (unfortunately, access keys aren't supported in earlier versions of netscape)
• Mozilla on Windows
  Alt and access key.
• Opera
  hold the shift key and press escape then realease them. This will bring up a menu of the access keys on the page. Press the desired access key.
• Safari 2, Safari 3 on Mac
  Ctrl and the access key

Semantic markup

Structured, semantic markup is used to represent document structure. H1 tags are used for main titles, h3 tags for subtitles, and so on.

Cascading style sheets 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 colour contrast to ensure that all information is still clear.

Most of the text is written as grey on white and is perfectly contrasting. Grey on white combination passes colour 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 169.
• The difference in colour between the two colours is sufficient. The threshold is 500, and the result of the foreground and background colours is 501

Font sizes

Relative units have been used in markup language and CSS, therefore website layout accommodates resizing text even in Internet Explorer for Windows.