Accessibility

Lake Macquarie City Council is committed to ensuring that this website is accessible to everyone, regardless of the browsing technology used to view this site. If you have any questions, comments or suggestions relating to the accessibility of our website, please contact us as we are always interested in improving the experience on our site for all visitors.

Improving your experience on this site

The following list of links will direct visitors to content located on this page.

High contrast design

Providing a high enough contrast and large enough text for text to be readable is critical to providing a satisfying web experience for any user with partial or low vision. This site has been designed so that text is presented with high contrast, in most cases black text on a white background.

Visitors to this website can navigate through our page content using headings. Recent versions of screen readers can navigate using the following keystrokes:

  • H to cycle forwards through the heading
  • Shift + H to cycle backwards through the headings
  • Using 1 to 6 to navigate to the next heading of the selected level. For example, selecting 1 will move to the next level 1 heading, selecting 2 will move towards the next level 2 heading, and so on.
  • Using the Shift key in conjunction with 1 to 6 will navigate to the previous heading of the selected level. For example, selecting Shift + 1 will move to the previous level 1 heading, Shift + 2 will move towards the previous level 2 heading, and so on.
  • INSERT + F6 to provide a list of all heading on the current page.

Navigation using headings is not limited to visitors using assistive technology. The Opera browser has excellent keyboard shortcuts that are invaluable to visitors with motor disabilities.

  • S will cycle forwards through the headings
  • W will cycle backwards through the headings

The extension Document Map for the Mozilla Firefox browser will allow visitors to navigate to headings within a page of content. Visit the Firefox Add-ons page for the latest extensions for this browser.

Change the size of the text

This site has been designed to allow visitors to change the size of the text within content. To change the size of the text using Mozilla Firefox:

  • Ctrl and + to increase the text one size larger.
  • Ctrl and – to decreae the text one size smaller.
  • Ctrl + 0 to reset the text to it's normal size.

To change the text size using Internet Explorer:

  • Select the text size required from the Text Size submenu found in the View menu.

Text layout

Blocks of text on this site avoid the use of full justification and are spaced with a large line-height in an effort to avoid variable spacing between words which can create visual patterns of white space. These patterns are difficult to ignore and are sometimes termed "rivers of white" running down the page making it extremely difficult to read.

Abbreviations and acronyms

Many internet browsers will display the meaning of abbreviations and acronyms found within web page content if the author of the content has provided the definitions. These expanded definitions are often displayed in the form of "tooltips" when the mouse is hovered over the item. Assistive browsers will usually read the meaning of the abbreviation.

The extension Glossary of Terms for Mozilla Firefox will read a page and produce a glossary at the bottom of the page derived from acronyms and abbreviations found within the content. This glossary and can be reproduced if the page is printed.

We have strived to provide these definitions within our content, although if we have missed any be sure to let us know.

Skip to Main Content

The first link on each page of content within this site reads "Skip to Main Content". This hyperlink (often known as a skip or jump link) provides a mechanism for visitors to jump past the list of navigable items to the main content within the page.

This feature is valuable to visitors using screen reader technology to browse this site, as it can prevent them from having to listen to the site navigation on each page.

Skip links are beneficial to many groups, including those with mobility problems. They can also improve the usability of other devices, including mobile devices that can be cumbersome to use when the user is presented with a large list of links.

Links on this site have been written so that the text of the link accurately describes the target. On the occasion that more information about the link is required, we have employed title attributes which describe the link in greater detail.

Whenever possible, links are written to make sense out of context.

All links can be followed in any browser, even if scripting is turned off. If a link is going to open in a new window, readers are provided with a warning to this effect.

Access Keys

Most browsers support jumping to specific links by typing keys defined on the web site. This is a potentially very useful feature for many users. However, access keys often conflict with keyboard shortcuts defined by the browser or operating system. Because of this, this site does not use access keys.

Known Accessibility Problems

Despite our best efforts, some sections of the website may remain inaccessible.

While every effort has and will continue to be made to provide text-based equivalents for our downloadable material, much of this content remains in the Adobe PDF format. The Adobe Accessibility Resource Centre provides information on the accessibility features of their software, in particular Adobe Reader. An online tool for converting PDF documents to text is also available from the Resource Centre.

We will continue to work towards providing an accessible website and appreciate any feedback or suggestions you would like to offer.

Page Last Updated: 08 Jan 2016