Site Tools

Tips for screenreader users

Summary: Tips about using this site for people using screen reading software.

• How the site is organised
• The structure of a page
• Finding the navigation
• Reading the content
• Searching the site
• Heading structure
• Images

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How the site is organised

The site is split into six main sections (Good design, About us, Eye info, Support us, Daily life and Shop). Each of these areas have sub-sections. For example the Good design section contains the following sub-sections: Accessible info, Transcription, Training and Consultancy and Web Access Centre. Each of these sections has a homepage and navigation links.

Every page includes 'site navigation'. This includes a link back to the homepage, site tools links (Donations, What’s new, Link to us, Site map, Contact us and Accessibility help) and links to the main six sections (Good design etc).

The structure of a page

Underneath the site navigation, each page is split into three columns.

The left-hand column contains section-specific navigation. These are links to content pages within that section.

The column in the centre contains the content of the page. This is where you’ll find the text of the page you’ve browsed to.

The right-hand column contains a quiz, related links and a personal story related to the subsite.

Finding the navigation

When you get to an RNIB webpage, before you hear the main page content you will hear two 'jump' links. You can use these to get to the navigation on the page.

The 'jump to site navigation' link takes you to a list of the main sections of the website and the search box.

The 'jump to (section name) navigation' link takes you to a list of pages within the section you are in. For example the link in the education section will say 'jump to education navigation. This list will contain only links to pages published within the education section.

Reading the content

The page content is immediately after these 'jump' links. Once you have reached the page you want, you can just let your screenreader read from the top.

Searching the site

The search area is also section-sensitive. If you are on the RNIB homepage it will contain a label that says 'Search:', an edit box for you to enter the words you want to search for, and a Go button.

If you browse to a subsite, there will be two radio buttons. This allows you to narrow your search. For example, if you’re in the Education section, the radio buttons will say 'Whole site' and 'Education section'. The 'Search whole site' radio button is selected by default.

Heading structure

We’ve structured the site in a way that’ll allow you to take advantage of your screenreader’s heading jump facilities. The content column begins with a heading 1, while the menu and features columns each start with a heading 2. The content on the page is also split into sections to allow it to be navigated around.

Images

All images which convey meaningful information have alt text which described the content of the picture.

Back to accessibility help

Content author: webteam@rnib.org.uk

Last updated: 06/03/2008 15:41