Accessibility

What is an accessible website?

An accessible website is one that accommodates a full range of users. Accessible websites prioritise clear content, structure and ease of navigation over superfluous aspects of design; however, they need not be visually unattractive − nor are they prevented from using the latest web technologies.

We aim to achieve and maintain good levels of accessibility on the Chatham Islands Council website by following best practice guidelines provided by international web accessibility initiative W3C(external link) and allowing the use of access keys.

Access keys

Access keys are keyboard shortcuts which allow a user to navigate around a website or piece of computer software without having to use a mouse or other pointing device.

You can use the following access keys throughout our website.

• Access key 0 is provided for List of Access Keys.
• Access key 1 is provided for Home.
• Access key 3 is provided for Search.
• Access key 9 is provided for Contact Us.
• Access key [ is provided for beginning of main content. This is known as a Skip Link.
• Access key / is provided for re-directing to the all-of-government portal www.govt.nz(external link).

To use these shortcut keys hold down the Alt key (Windows) or Ctrl key (Apple) and one of the keys as listed above.

In some browsers you may have to press Enter to confirm your choice.

Change text size and colours

You can use your browser settings to change the text size and colours for all websites that you visit − something you may want to do if you find the text too small to read or if the contrast between text colours and background colours is not great enough.

The technique for doing this is slightly different depending on the browser that you use. For advice on how to make text changes in the browser you're using, we recommend visiting the W3C(external link) website, which provides up-to-date information on this topic.