Accessibility

We want as many people as possible to be able to use this website and we currently follow the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.0. For example, this means you should be able to:

• Change the colours, contrast levels and fonts by adjusting browser settings.
  • Different browsers include these options under different menus and they can usually be found under Tools, Settings, Options, Content or Reading View, depending on the browser (for example, in Mozilla Firefox you can find this under Options: Language and Appearance). 
  • There are also browser extensions specifically dedicated to changing colours and contrast options, including Change Colors for Google Chrome and Color Changer for Mozilla Firefox.
    
    
• Zoom in up to at least 300%
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• Navigate most of our websites using just a keyboard, including skipping directly to main content and other important pages.
  
  
• Listen to most of the website using a screen reader (including JAWS, NVDA and VoiceOver) or use text-to-speech tools to read out website content in both PDF and HTML format. 
  • Text-to-speech tools are built into some browsers (e.g., Microsoft Edge) and are available as a plug-in for many others. 
    
    

AbilityNet has advice on making your device easier to use if you have a disability.

What formats does Portland Press offer?

All content is available in PDF format and content from at least 2008 onwards is available in both PDF and HTML format. To open PDF files, you will need PDF software such as Adobe Reader or PDF-Xchange Editor.

For more information and advice on using the inbuilt accessibility features of Adobe Reader, please see this guide. 

Tables within articles in the HTML version are presented in an XML format which yields each cell as a separate entity rather than bundled into one image – this makes it easier for tools such as text readers to interpret them. 
These formats are not protected by Digital Rights Management (DRM). This means that assistive technology users should experience no barriers caused by print or copy restrictions; however, normal copyright conditions do still apply, details of which can be found in our copyright and permission policy. 

How accessible are the Portland Press websites?

Portland Press is continually working to make our websites as accessible and usable as possible. To help us make it a positive place for everyone, we’ve been using the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.0. Following these guidelines makes content accessible to a wider range of people with disabilities and makes our content more user-friendly in general. 

The guidelines have three levels of accessibility: A (lowest), AA and AAA (highest). Portland Press sites are hosted by Silverchair, with the platform aiming to meet AA standards for accessibility. 

The majority of our site and content should be fully accessible; however, we know that some parts of the website are not fully accessible. For example, some of our older archive content is available only in PDF format and this has not been designed for accessibility (older archival content reproduced from original printed sources is presented in the form of scanned PDFs). 

How can you help us improve?

If you are having difficulty using any of the Portland Press websites, please get in touch with the Editorial Office

Disclaimer

Portland Press takes no responsibility for any problems or issues caused by changes to systems made as a result of downloading additional software, or changes users make to their browser configurations.