Getting to Know Cardiff Met & Where to Find Help

Accessibility Statement

This accessibility statement applies to bettertransitions.net. The website is developed and maintained by BurstofFruit Ltd on behalf of Cardiff Metropolitan University. This statement has been prepared by BurstofFruit Ltd and Cardiff Metropolitan University.

We firmly believe that the internet should be available and accessible to anyone, and are committed to providing a website that is accessible to the widest possible audience, regardless of circumstance and ability.

To fulfil this, we aim to adhere to the World Wide Web Consortium’s (W3C) Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 2.1 (WCAG 2.1) at the AA level. These guidelines explain how to make web content accessible to people with a wide array of disabilities. Complying with those guidelines helps us ensure that the website is accessible to all people: blind people, people with motor impairments, visual impairment, cognitive disabilities, and more.

Accessibility Highlights

This website utilizes various technologies that are meant to make it as accessible as possible at all times. We utilize an accessibility interface that allows persons with specific disabilities to adjust the website’s UI (user interface) and design it to their personal needs.

Additionally, the website utilizes an AI-based application that runs in the background and optimizes its accessibility level constantly. This application remediates the website’s HTML, adapts its functionality and behaviour for screen-readers used by the blind users, and for keyboard functions used by individuals with motor impairments. In summary this means you should be able to:

• Personalise colour display and combinations, contrast and saturation – see accessibility menu on the top left hand side of the main menu?
• Navigate the majority of the website using the keyboard
• Adjust font and font size, layout and spacing to personal preference
• Make use of text alternatives for non-text content
• Use a skip link to jump straight to content
• Navigate through the website using a screen reader such as JAWS or NVDA
• Navigate through the website using speech recognition

The following section explains in more detail how to make best use of the accessibility features of the website

Screen-reader and keyboard navigation

1. Screen-reader optimization: we run a background process that learns the website’s components from top to bottom, to ensure ongoing compliance even when updating the website. In this process, we provide screen-readers with meaningful data using the ARIA set of attributes. For example, we provide accurate form labels; descriptions for actionable icons (social media icons, search icons, cart icons, etc.); validation guidance for form inputs; element roles such as buttons, menus, modal dialogues (popups), and others. Additionally, the background process scans all of the website’s images and provides an accurate and meaningful image-object-recognition-based description as an ALT (alternate text) tag for images that are not described. It will also extract texts that are embedded within the image, using an OCR (optical character recognition) technology. To turn on screen-reader adjustments at any time, users need only to press the Alt+1 keyboard combination. Screen-reader users also get automatic announcements to turn the Screen-reader mode on as soon as they enter the website.

These adjustments are compatible with all popular screen readers, including JAWS and NVDA.

1. Keyboard navigation optimization: The background process also adjusts the website’s HTML, and adds various behaviours using JavaScript code to make the website operable by the keyboard. This includes the ability to navigate the website using the Tab and Shift+Tab keys, operate dropdowns with the arrow keys, close them with Esc, trigger buttons and links using the Enter key, navigate between radio and checkbox elements using the arrow keys, and fill them in with the Spacebar or Enter key. Additionally, keyboard users will find quick-navigation and content-skip menus, available at any time by clicking Alt+1, or as the first elements of the site while navigating with the keyboard. The background process also handles triggered popups by moving the keyboard focus towards them as soon as they appear, and not allow the focus drift outside of it.

Users can also use shortcuts such as “M” (menus), “H” (headings), “F” (forms), “B” (buttons), and “G” (graphics) to jump to specific elements.

User profiles supported in our website

• Epilepsy Safe Mode: this profile enables people with epilepsy to use the website safely by eliminating the risk of seizures that result from any flashing or blinking animations and poor colour combinations. We have not included these in the content of the website but have made this mode available to offer reassurance and to pre-empt any inadvertent inclusion of such content.
  
  
• Visually Impaired Mode: this mode adjusts the website for the convenience of users with visual impairments such as Degrading Eyesight, Tunnel Vision, Cataract, Glaucoma, and others.
  
  
• Cognitive Disability Mode: this mode provides different assistive options to help users with cognitive neurodivergence such as Dyslexia, Autism, CVA, and others, to focus on the essential elements of the website more easily.
  
  
• ADHD Friendly Mode: this mode helps users with ADHD and users wishing to eliminate distracting content to read, browse, and focus on the main website elements more easily while significantly reducing distractions.
  
  
• Blindness Mode: this mode configures the website to be compatible with screen-readers such as JAWS, NVDA, VoiceOver, and TalkBack.
  
  
• Keyboard Navigation Profile (Motor-Impaired): this profile enables users to operate the website using the keyboard Tab, Shift+Tab, and the Enter keys. Users can also use shortcuts such as “M” (menus), “H” (headings), “F” (forms), “B” (buttons), and “G” (graphics) to jump to specific elements.
  
  

Additional UI, design, and readability adjustments

1. Font adjustments: users, can increase and decrease its size, change its family (type), adjust the spacing, alignment, line height, and more.
   
   
2. Colour adjustments: users can select various colour contrast profiles such as light, dark, inverted, and monochrome. Additionally, users can swap colour schemes of titles, texts, and backgrounds, with over 7 different colouring options.
   
   
3. Animations: epileptic users can stop all running animations with the click of a button. Animations controlled by the interface include videos, GIFs, and CSS flashing transitions.
   
   
4. Content highlighting: users can choose to emphasize important elements such as links and titles. They can also choose to highlight focused or hovered elements only.
   
   
5. Audio muting: users with hearing devices may experience headaches or other issues due to automatic audio playing. This option lets users mute the entire website instantly.
   
   
6. Enhancing understanding: we utilize a search engine that is linked to Wikipedia and Wiktionary, allowing people to decipher meanings of phrases, initials, slang, and others.
   
   
7. Additional functions: we provide users the option to change cursor colour and size, use a printing mode, enable a virtual keyboard, and many other functions.
   
   

Browser and assistive technology compatibility

We aim to support the widest array of browsers and assistive technologies as possible, so our users can choose the best fitting tools for them, with as few limitations as possible. Therefore, we have worked very hard to be able to support all major systems that comprise over 95% of the user market share including Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, Apple Safari, Opera and Microsoft Edge, JAWS and NVDA (screen readers), both for Windows and for MAC users.

Guidance and alternative formats

If you need information on this website in a different format such as accessible PDF, large print, easy read or audio recording you can contact the department linked to the page you are viewing, contact us directly or make use of one of the in-built functions in your operating system:

• Apple OSX
• MS Immersive Reader and Learning Tools

Feedback and Contact Details

If you’ve found a malfunction or have ideas for improvement, we’ll be happy to hear from you. You can reach out to the website’s operators by using the following email
 

• Email: learningsupport@cardiffmet.ac.uk

We will consider your request and aim to respond in 3 working days

Complaints and Enforcement
If you have requested an alternative format or have reported a problem with our website and are not happy with our response, please do get in touch to let us know and we will consider further information and support that we can provide for you.

Enforcement procedure: The Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) is responsible for enforcing the Public Sector Bodies (Websites and Mobile Applications) (No.2) Accessibility Regulations 2018 (the ‘accessibility regulations’). If you’re not happy with how we respond to your complaint, contact the Equality Advisory and Support Service (EASS).

Accessibility Limitations

We do have features to disable or adapt content but this may not always work successfully depending on the user’s device. bettertransitions.net is committed to providing an inclusive and accessible website for all users. However, due to the limitations of technology and other factors in older browsers or devices per 2018, some content may not be fully accessible to individuals with disabilities. Our team is continually working to improve our website's accessibility and welcomes any feedback or suggestions for improvement.

Compliance Statement

Technical limitation information regarding bettertransitions.net true accessibility: bettertransitions.net is committed to making its website, MS and related features fully accessible, in accordance with the Public Sector Bodies (Websites and Mobile Applications) (No. 2) Accessibility Regulations 2018.

This website is partially compliant with the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines version 2.1 - AA standard, due to the non-compliances listed below.

Non accessible content: The content listed below is non-accessible for the following reasons.
List of Non-Accessible Items on bettertransitions.net:

1. External Images without alternative text descriptions
2. Online forms that are not fully accessible to screen readers or other assistive technologies
3. Third-party content or applications that may not meet accessibility standards

We apologise for any inconvenience this may cause but have steps in place to adapt content wherever possible. We are committed to continuously improving our website's accessibility.

Notes, comments, and feedback

Despite our very best efforts to allow anybody to adjust the website to their needs, there may still be pages or sections that are not fully accessible, are in the process of becoming accessible, or are lacking an adequate technological solution to make them accessible. Still, we are continually improving our accessibility, adding, updating and improving its options and features, and developing and adopting new technologies. All this is meant to reach the optimal level of accessibility, following technological advancements. For any assistance, please reach out to learningsupport@cardiffmet.ac.uk