Help

Help

Accessibility

This accessibility statement applies only to the Business West website at www.businesswest.co.uk.

This policy does not apply to:

  • any site that is linked to or from one of our pages. 

Business West is committed to providing a website that is accessible to the widest possible audience irrespective of their browser, or whether or not users have any disabilities.

This website aims to conform to the UK government guidelines for websites. It also follows the Worldwide Web Consortium’s (W3C) Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 1.0, and meets double-A checkpoints. 

The website's layout takes into account users who are blind or visually impaired. It is compatible with popular screen reading software. If you have difficulties using a mouse, the website can be navigated using only a keyboard.

Maintaining an accessible site is an ongoing process and Business West are continually working to offer a user friendly experience. Content is contributed by staff and partners and, whilst every effort is made to ensure a common accessibility standard is reached, Business West cannot guarantee that every item of content will meet the minimum standard, especially those not in a XHTML format.

If you have any questions or suggestions regarding the accessibility of this site, or if you have difficulty using any part of it, please contact us via the:

Contact Us form or, email to info@businesswest.co.uk or, telephone on 01275 373 373 (Monday – Friday 09:00 – 17.30)

 

Online content format

The core of www.businesswest.co.uk is published as extensible hypertext markup language (XHTML) files that use cascading style sheets (CSS). It is this type of content that the guidelines directly apply to.

 

Accessibility preferences

You can change the way this website looks to suit your preferences. The settings that do this can differ from browser to browser, but most browsers offer some or all of the following:

  • Increasing the font size. If you find the size of the text on businesswest.co.uk too small you can adjust it by using the font size setting in your browser. If you use Internet Explorer 7 and above or Firefox, you can resize text using the zoom function by pressing and holding down "Ctrl" and "+". This will then zoom in allowing users to see the text more clearly. Use”Ctrl" and "-" will decrease the zoom.
  • Adjusting text and colour changes. Some users who rely on screen magnifiers can find white backgrounds inappropriate. You can change both the background and the text by changing some settings in your browser. If you use Internet Explorer, go to the 'Tools' menu, select "Internet Options", select "Colors" and make changes to text and background colours in the "Colors" panel. Then change the “accessibility” settings, also found on the “general” tab of “Internet Options”, and select which elements you wish to ignore – colour or font styles and size.
  • Accessibility Wizard. If you use Windows, there is a program called Accessibility Wizard that enables you to set preferences for using your PC and the internet. To find the Accessibility Wizard, look in the Start menu, select "Programs", select "Accessories", select "Accessibility", select the "Accessibility Wizard" and then follow the instructions.
  • Screen resolutions. You can set your computer to display different screen resolutions.   UK Trade & Investment’s website has been designed to work best in 1024 x 768 pixel resolutions. For information on adjusting the display resolution try the help files in your operating system or consult the manufacturer's website.
  • Screen colours. Depending on your computer you can also control the number of colours displayed on your screen.  Business West’s website looks best with 16-bit colour (65,356 colours or thousands of colours depending on your operating system)

 

Software to open documents

www.businesswest.co.uk links to documents and files which are not in XHTML but rather in a number of alternative formats. You may need special software to read some of these files.

The links below enable you to download free software to allow you to open these files.

 

PDFs and accessibility

Many of the documents on the Business West website are in Adobe Acrobat Portable Document Format (PDF). Adobe Reader enables you to read these. The latest versions of Adobe Reader (7.0 and above) offer more in the way of accessibility than earlier versions; however older PDFs might not be fully accessible. You can download the latest version of Adobe Reader on the Adobe website (Opens in a new window)

 

You can also download a document about how to access PDFs with various assistive technologies from the Adobe website (PDF, 368K)(Opens in a new window)

 

You can also find tools and information to increase the accessibility of PDF documents on the Adobe website – (Opens in a new window).

 

Adobe Acrobat Reader is the most popular PDF viewer but there are several others available to download that will allow you to view, and print PDF documents, on a variety of platforms and systems. The following sites may be helpful:

 

Browsers and operating systems

Business West’s website has been tested across a wide range of browsers and operating systems including:

Windows

MS Internet Explorer 9 (on Windows XP, Windows Vista, Windows 7)

MS Internet Explorer 8 (on Windows XP, Windows Vista, Windows 7)

Mozilla Firefox 4 (on Windows XP, Windows Vista, Windows 7)

Google Chrome - latest version (on Windows XP, Windows Vista, Windows 7)

Macintosh

Safari 5.0

 

Other browsers

This website has been designed to support as wide a variety of browser and operating system as possible.  If you are not using one of the browsers above you should be able to access the site and use the pages but it might not display as designed, nor provide you with the best experience of using the website.

Upgrading browsers

We would recommend upgrading your browser as far as your computer allows.  Later versions of browsers often have higher levels of security and better functions. Most browser suppliers will allow you to upgrade for free. Visit the browser's website to find the latest versions and to download them.   Browser downloads are very large; many browsers are also available on CDs such as those distributed by computer magazines.

 

Further information

For further information on accessibilities issues visit the BBC's My Web My Way – (opens in new window) which is recognised by a variety of Accessibility agencies as being extremely useful and comprehensive.

Feedback

If you have any questions or suggestions regarding the accessibility of this site, or if you have difficulty using any part of it, please use the Enquiry & Customer Feedback form or email info@businesswest.co.uk or, telephone on 01275 373 373 (Monday – Friday 09.00-17.00).