The Archdiocese of Brisbane is committed to ensuring all publicly available information is delivered in a manner which is accessible to all. We ensure every effort is made to adhere to World Wide Web Consortium’s W3C – Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.0 Level A.

If you encounter any web accessibility issue please contact us and we will endeavour to address the problem as soon as possible.

Browsers

Whilst every effort is made to ensure this website displays adequately on previous versions of all popular web browsers, we recommend using the latest version possible for your operating system. Additionally we recommend activating JavaScript within your browser, however this is not mandatory.

Access keys

Access keys allow you to enter a key combination on your keyboard and have your browser instantly direct you to the corresponding page. Simply hold the Alt key (PC or Linux) or Ctrl key (Mac) then press the key corresponding to the link you wish to follow.

Please note in some browsers you will be required to press the Enter key after the access key combination to go to the desired page.

This website follows the standard archdiocesan access keys as below:

• Alt s – Skip to content
• Alt 1 – Homepage
• Alt 3 – Skip to main navigation
• Alt 9 – Contact Details
• Alt 0 – Accessibility Information

Skipping straight to content

For users of screen readers, we have included a Skip to content link as the first link on every page of this website (hidden from view however read out by screen readers).

Activating this link will take you directly to the content of the current page allowing you to avoid being read aloud the site banner and navigation content.

Additionally we have set an access key to enable keyboard activation of this link at any stage. To use this access key simply press Alt S (PC or Linux) or Ctrl S (Mac).

Keyboard navigation

You may use your keyboard to navigate the links on our website without the need for pointer interaction. By pressing the Tab key repeatedly you will highlight each link consecutively on the page. This will manifest with the following feedback:

• If you are using a conventional browser you will see a light coloured box appear around each link consecutively.
• If you are using a screen reader you may be read the title of the link highlighted.

Once you have highlighted your desired link, press the Enter key to activate the link.

Text size adjustment

You may change the size of the text and imagery on this website by using one of the following methods:

• If your mouse has a scroll wheel you can hold the Ctrl key and scroll the scroll wheel forward to increase text size or scroll backward to decrease text size. Note: on a Mac this will zoom in your entire desktop; not just your browser window.
• Press Ctrl + (PC or Linux) or Command + (Mac) to increase text size and Ctrl – (PC or Linux) or Command – (Mac) to decrease text size. Ctrl 0 (PC or Linux) or Command 0 (Mac) will return your browser to normal size.
• Resizing the width of your browser window will cause the site to attempt to lay itself out in the best possible manner. You may find reducing the browser window width helps with your preferred viewing experience.

Alternate text

All non textual content (images, video and audio) are represented in textual form for users who require the use of a screen reader or are not able to meet the bandwidth requirements for multimedia content items.

• Images – Descriptive alternate text is used for all content imagery. This will be read aloud by a screen reader or shown on screen should the image fail to download. Where an image is purely in place as a decorative element no alternate text is included.
• Video and audio – Where video or audio textual elements are used we ensure a textual transcript is made available. This will either be in the form of text displayed alongside the video or audio or a link to an accessible PDF document as near as possible to the video or audio.

Graphic design

The following graphic design considerations have been implemented in the design of this website:

• Colour blindness considerations – Colours have been chosen to ensure any users with colour vision deficiencies are able to view the content of the website without issue.
• Seizure awareness – No part of this website flashes or changes more than twice per second to ensure users with photosensitive epilepsy do not suffer a seizure.

Website structure

Famous web usability expert Jakob Neilson’s Law of the Web User Experience states:

“Users spend most of their time on other websites.”

This website attempts to adhere to this consideration by employing standard layout techniques most commonly used across the Internet. This includes, for example, standard layout of navigation and content, use of appropriate headings, use of a breadcrumb trail and a clear link colour and clear link anchor text.

HTML 5 markup

HTML markup allows us to clearly define blocks of content as, for example, navigation, article content or page header or footer. This website employs this technology allowing screen readers and search engines to better understand the layout of the website.

Form layout

Any forms used on this website employ the use of form input labels. These labels ensure users who use a screen reader can more easily navigate and complete the form.

Additionally form input fields may be navigated through the use of the Tab key alone, removing the requirement for a pointing device.