Information

Accessibility Statement

This statement describes the effort made to keep the reference readable by as many people as possible, and the steps a reader may take if a page proves difficult.

Our aim

The editorial office wishes the reference to be usable by every reader who comes to it, whatever the means by which they read. The pages are therefore built from plain structural markup, with a heading order that follows the argument, and with text that remains readable when the size is raised.

Structure

Each page opens with a single first-level heading, follows with second-level headings for its sections, and places the body in an article region. Lists are marked as lists, tables as tables with named headers, and figures as figures with a caption that explains what is shown. The navigation is a row of labelled sections, each of which lists its pages in a way that may be opened and closed.

Colour and contrast

The text is set in a dark tone on a light ground, and the contrast between the two is kept high throughout. The accent colour is used for emphasis rather than for the whole of a passage, so that a page remains legible without it. No meaning depends on colour alone.

Keyboard and pointer

Every link and every control may be reached with the keyboard as well as with a pointer, and the element in focus is drawn with a visible outline. The section panels may be opened and closed without any pointer at all. A reader who prefers to scroll rather than to click may reach any page from the index at the foot of every page.

Motion and timing

The pages carry no animation, no moving banner and no element that changes on its own. Nothing here imposes a time limit, and nothing here moves in a way that might distract a reader who is sensitive to motion.

Images

Every figure carries a short account of what it shows, so that a reader who cannot see the picture can still follow the argument. The drawings built into the pages carry the same account. Where a photograph is used, the caption explains its part in the text.

Feedback

A reader who meets a barrier is invited to describe it through the contact page. A report that names the page and the difficulty is the most useful kind, and the editorial office will make a reasonable effort to remove the barrier. The aim is to keep improving, one page at a time.

Standards

The reference is built with an eye to the widely shared guidance on accessible web content, though the office makes no formal claim of full conformity. Where practice and guidance diverge, the office prefers the reading that serves the reader.

Text size and zoom

The pages hold their shape when the text is enlarged. Nothing is set in a fixed size that would clip a longer word, and no block is confined to a height that would hide its content when the type grows. A reader who raises the zoom to twice the ordinary setting will still find every heading and every caption in place, and the bar rail will continue to list its pages without loss.

Plain language

Where a term of art is unavoidable, it is defined on first use and gathered again in the glossary. Longer sentences are kept few, and paragraphs are kept short, so that a reader who loses the thread can find it again without rereading a whole page.