General information

What is accessibility?

The Geological Society is committed to making the content of its website as accessible as possible to all users, including those with disabilities.

Your web browser will allow you to change some of its settings, which may make the internet easier to use for those with a visual impairment, dyslexia, or certain other conditions. It should be possible to navigate and use websites without having to use a mouse, which is difficult for people with certain motor impairments. Other internet users with disabilities use assistive technologies such as screen readers and text-only browsers. A fully accessible website will behave in the correct way when browser settings are changed, will be fully navigable using only the keyboard, and will allow those using assistive technologies to navigate the site and access its content easily. 

Standards compliance

Our aspiration is to comply with the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 1.0 of the World Wide Web Consortium’s (W3C) Web Accessibility Initiative, at level AA, throughout the site. We have made every reasonable effort to do this in building the site, and we will continue to improve its accessibility. 

The website will support all common web browsers, but will perform best if you use Internet Explorer version 7 or later, or Firefox version 1.5 or later. The site has also been tested using Jaws screen reader and Lynx text-only browser.

Accessibility help

The BBC’s My Web My Way accessibility pages provide detailed help on making the web easier to use for those with disabilities. It includes instructions on changing text size, text colour and background colour for a wide range of operating systems and web browsers, information about how to use the features of your operating system (such as magnifying the screen), help on navigating websites using the keyboard only, advice on screen readers such as Jaws and other assistive technologies, and much more.

Access keys

The Geological Society’s site allows you to use access keys in those browsers which support them. Access keys allow you to jump straight to key areas of the site. Usually you use an access key by holding down the ALT key (or CTRL on a Mac) and pressing the appropriate number or letter. In line with the UK Government recommended access key standard, the keys currently available on this site are:
0 – Accessibility
1 – Home
2 – Skip to main content area of current page
3 – Site map (forthcoming)
4 – Go to Search box
8 – Terms and Conditions
9 – Contact Us

Feedback

If you find a page or section of the site which you do not find to be accessible, or which you cannot understand, please do not hesitate to contact us at [email protected]. Please provide full details of the problem and the page or pages in question so we can investigate for you.

Useful resources