We are trying to make our websites as accessible as we can. We hope they meet your needs and that you find the information you are looking for.
Help with hearing our websites
Help with navigating our websites
Broken links and Error messages
Help with seeing our websites
Some users might find that the size and colour of the font isn't easy to read, however you can change the font in your browser settings.
To find out which version of the browser you are using:
- Go to Help on the tool bar at the top of your screen and choose About (eg About Internet Explorer or About Mozilla Firefox).
Please follow the instructions below for Microsoft Windows Internet Explorer versions 5.5 and above and Mozilla Firefox; in other browsers the procedure may differ slightly.
For further assistance in changing your browser settings, please refer to the Help menu on your browser toolbar.
Making text larger
Internet Explorer
- Go to the View menu using your mouse or by pressing Alt + V.
- Select the Text Size option using your mouse or by pressing X.
- Choose your preferred text size using your mouse or by using the up and down arrow keys and pressing Enter or by clicking on it.
Mozilla Firefox
The following instructions will set the minimum font size on your computer’s system, so the size will apply to every site you visit:
- Go to Tools in your browser’s menu using your mouse or press Alt + T.
Click on Options, or press O, to open the Options dialog box. - Select Content if not already selected or press the cursor keys (up and down arrows) until it is highlighted (in blue) and then press Tab key.
- Press Tab key until you reach Fonts & Colours Advanced, then press Enter to select Fonts.
- Tab to Minimum font size box then use the down arrow key to increase font size.
- Tab to the Always use my: Fonts checkbox and then press the spacebar to select or on some versions don’t click on the Allow pages to choose their own fonts, instead of my selections checkbox.
- Click the OK button or tab to the OK button and press Enter.
Changing Colours
Follow the instructions below to change the colours you see on web pages.
Internet Explorer (versions 5.5 and above)
- Go to Tools in your browser’s menu using your mouse or press Alt + T.
- Click on Internet Options, or press O, to open the Internet Options dialog box.
- Select Accessibility by pressing the Tab key until it is highlighted (in blue) and then press Enter to select Accessibility.
- Click in the white square next to Ignore colours specified on web pages. When a tick appears in the box, use the Tab key until OK is highlighted and the press Enter to select OK and to close the box.
- In the Internet Options box (which should still be open, if it isn't open it again from the Tools menu on your browser) use the Tab key until Colours is highlighted and then press Enter. Another box will open.
- Uncheck the box marked Use Windows colours.
- Now click the rectangle to the right of Text and choose a text colour (eg yellow).
- Click the rectangle to the right of Background and choose a background colour (eg black).
- Click the OK button or tab to the OK button and press Enter.
Mozilla Firefox·
- Go to Tools in your browser’s menu using your mouse or press Alt + T.
- Click on Options, or press O, to open the Options dialog box.
- Select Content if not already selected or press the cursor keys (up and down arrows) until it is highlighted (in blue) and then press Tab key.
- Press tab key until you reach Colours, then press Enter.
- Text should be highlighted but if not use the Tab key and then click on the Black colour box to bring up a colour chart. Select the colour you want to set as the text colour. You can either click on the colour of your choice or move through the colour choices using the arrow keys and then click on the colour or press Enter to select the text colour.
- If you clicked on the colour you will still be in the Colours box so tab down to Background and repeat the procedure to select a background colour. If you clicked on Enter it will have taken you back one stage so reselect Colours first.
- Click the OK button or tab to the OK button and press Enter.
To close images on web pages
- Select Tools from the top tool bar.
- Select Options.
- Select the Content tab, click on the tick box labeled Load images automatically (to remove the tick).
To increase the size of the screen window
- Select View from top tool bar, click Full Screen or Click on the F11 key for full screen (click again to restore the navigation bar).
For more information on help with seeing websites including using screen magnifying software, making your mouse pointer easier to see and using your own style sheets, go to the BBC My Web My Way website at http://www.bbc.co.uk/accessibility/win/seeing/sub_1.shtml.
If you have any feedback you would like to share with us about seeing the content of our websites, we would like to hear from you.
Help with hearing our websites
This page covers ways you can make your computer read aloud the content of our website. All Booktrust websites are speech enabled.
Making your computer speak
Browsealoud
Browsealoud is a software program that reads aloud web pages and PDF document content. Once you have downloaded the Browsealoud software onto your computer, all you need to do is place your mouse pointer over the text you wish to have read aloud and Browsealoud will do so, you can also opt to have the text being read aloud highlighted on the screen. Browsealoud is available for both PC and Mac just click on the Browsealoud logo at the bottom right of our web pages or follow this link: Download Browsealoud for PC or Mac
Using a screen reader
If you are using a screen reader, we hope you will benefit from our use of meaningful headings, link text and alternative text to navigate our websites. We have also tried to make tables and PDF documents as accessible as possible.
Portable Document Format (PDF) - This icon appears on all PDF document cover pages and refers to the format of the document. PDF stands for Portable Document Format and in order view this format you will need PDF reading software such as Adobe Reader.
If you do come across a PDF document you cannot access, we provide links to the Adobe online PDF to text conversion tool as well as a link to download Adobe PDF Reader, which is free and can be used to access PDF files. A link to each is also provided below:
Download Adobe Reader – Adobe Reader is a software program that is available to download for free from the Adobe website and allows you to read and print Portable Document Format (PDF) files.
Adobe online PDF to text conversion tool – The Adobe conversion tool will provide a conversion to HTML or text file format. Adobe will convert the document immediately if you type in the file url via the form provided on their website or you can send it to them via email attachment. Then your screen reader will be able to read the PDF contents.
For further information on PDFs and accessibility go to the Adobe accessibility section http://www.adobe.com/accessibility/index.html.
For more information on help with hearing websites including using screen reading software amongst other assistive technologies, go to the BBC My Web My Way website at http://www.bbc.co.uk/accessibility/win/hearing/sub_1.shtml.
Help with navigating our websites
This section covers how you can navigate our website using your mouse.
Using your mouse to navigate our websites
For information on adjusting the speed of your mouse, making it left-handed and making your mouse pointer larger, go to the BBC My Web My Way website at: http://www.bbc.co.uk/accessibility/win/keyboard/mouse_easy/sub_2.shtml. The BBC site also covers alternatives to the mouse and keyboard.
Help with reading and understanding the content of our websites
We aim to use plain English language on all of our websites and hope that we have made the language of this website easy to read and to understand. If you have any feedback you would like to share with us about reading and understanding the content of our websites we would like to hear from you.
For more information on help with reading websites, go to the BBC My Web My Way website http://www.bbc.co.uk/accessibility/win/language/sub_1.shtml.
Broken links and error messages
We try to ensure that all links on our site are up-to-date. If you do find a broken link or an error message, we would like to hear from you.
Contact us
If you have any feedback you would like to share with us about using our websites, we would like to hear from you.
For detailed web accessibility guides please visit the BBC website http://www.bbc.co.uk/accessibility/win/sub_root.shtml
