Healthguides accessibility

Map of Medicine recognises the importance of providing a website that is inclusive and available for as many user groups as possible.
The information on this page relates to the Map of Medicine Healthguides website.
For information relating to the NHS Choices website please see the NHS Choices accessibility page.

Sections in this page

• Access keys
• Customised browser settings
• Dynamic HTML (DHTML) and JavaScript
• Screen readers and assistive technologies
• Wide pages and zooming
• Adobe Portable Document Format (PDF)
• Standards compliance
• How to get further assistance

Access keys

The table below shows the keyboard shortcuts that can be used to navigate this site. They aim to make it easier to use the site without the use of a mouse or other pointing device.

Access key	Function
s	Skip to main content
0	Accessibility help (this page)
1	Healthguides home (pathways A-Z)
2	Skip to medical algorithm (on Healthguides pages)
3	NHS Choices site map
4	Focus search form

How to use access keys in your browser

• Microsoft Internet Explorer: hold down the 'Alt' key, press the letter or number you want to use, then release both and press 'Enter'
• Firefox: hold down the 'Alt' and 'Shift' keys, then press the letter or number you want to use
• Opera: hold down the 'Shift' key and press the 'Esc' key, release both, then press the access key you want to use
• Safari (Mac): hold down the 'cmd' key and press the letter or number you want to use
• Other Browsers: Please consult your internet browser's help menu for more information

Customised browser settings

We develop Healthguides to work with internet browsers' default settings. However, you can change the settings of your browser to better suit your individual needs. For more information see the browser settings page.

Dynamic HTML (DHTML) and JavaScript

Map of Medicine Healthguides uses a collection of technologies to create an interactive layout that helps sighted users to focus on specific sections of content by visually limiting the amount of information on the screen at any one time. These technologies are collectively known as Dynamic HTML and are a combination of text with static markup such as bullet points and links (HTML), a scripting language that changes what's being shown in response to user actions such as mouse clicks or key presses (JavaScript) and a presentation definition language (CSS).

This separation between text with markup (which contains all of the medical information in Map of Medicine Healthguides) and a dynamic presentation layer, enhances the user experience while also allowing a great deal of flexibility in the way in which the content can be presented to meet the needs of users with a wide range of access requirements.

Screen readers and assistive technologies

The visual presentation and dynamic interactive elements are redundant for users accessing the site with a screen reader, and may not provide useful enhancements for those using other assistive technologies e.g. switch users, Healthguides is developed to be accessible with JavaScript disabled or with JavaScript and CSS disabled.

If you are experiencing any problems accessing the information on our website, please try disabling JavaScript in the first instance. This changes the layout of the page to one continuous column with in-page navigation links. Disabling CSS further simplifies the layout, which may improve the ability of assistive technologies such as screen readers in accessing the page content directly.

Disabling JavaScript and CSS

Healthguides users can disable JavaScript on pathway pages by selecting the "Reload page without JavaScirpt" link at the top of the page. Alternatively, please see your browser documentation for specific instructions on how to disable JavaScript and CSS.

Browser resources

There are a number of free browser add-ons which help to make the web more accessible

General resources

www.userfocus.co.uk/resources

www.wat-c.org

www.webaim.org/resources

FireFox extentions

www.accessfirefox.org

Wide pages and zooming

Some Healthguides medical algorithms are too wide to display in a standard browser without horizontal scrolling. If you are using Internet Explorer 7, FireFox 3 or Opera 8 web browsers and are experiencing horizontal scrolling, you can eliminate this and view the entire page by zooming out.

The Zoom functionality in Internet Explorer and Opera browsers is located in the bottom right corner, by default and via the "View" menu in FireFox 3.

Adobe Portable Document Format (PDF)

PDF is an open standard, multiplatform, searchable document format.
Healthguides makes use of the PDF format. Links to PDF documents end in "(PDF)" and open in a new window.

To view PDF documents you need to download the free Adobe Reader software.

Standards compliance

Most pages on this site are WCAG AA approved, complying with Priority 1 and 2 guidelines of the W3C Web Content Accessibility Guidelines.

How to get further assistance

Please contact us at The Map of Medicine. We will make every effort to assist you by providing you with the information that you have had difficulty in accessing through Healthguides.

An alternative is to look at the My web My way site at the BBC, which contains a lot of help and useful information to assist with internet accessibility.

Help us make our site accessible

If you have difficulty accessing this site and the content on it, please notify us. The website is being developed to be as accessible as possible, and we welcome your suggestions and comments to help us improve accessibility. Please send us your feedback info@mapofmedicine.com.