Accessibility and Validation Information

Accessibility

The University of Sydney Library welcomes users of assistive technologies. All Library web site pages have internal links to allow users to bypass repeated navigation links and move straight to content on each page.

Use the "Jump" link at the top of each page to avoid having to read through all the top level navigation and the menu.

The Library welcomes comments and suggestions from users with special needs.

Validation

The University of Sydney Library's web site has been built to comply with W3C standards, HTML 4.0 and CSS1.

All pages are tested using the W3C's validation agents. Pages have also been tested using Bobby, for Accessibility.

Styles

This web site has been designed to load quickly and provide streamlined access to the Library services. A minimum of images has been used, and where larger images are embedded, loading them is optional. A maximum file size of 30k is preferred, to ensure fast downloading. Design elements have been added through the use of cascading style sheets, which provide standardised colours and fonts.

Fonts and Colours

Fonts

The fonts chosen for the web site have been chosen from suggestions from staff and users, with input from research into readibility of screen text. Colin Wheildon's book "Communicating or just making pretty shapes : a study of validity or otherwise of some elements of typographic design" has been invaluable in this development.

Colours

The colours for backgrounds and text have also been chosen with regard to research into readability and understanding. The colours for headings and contrasts were chosen to match the University colours of blue, red and gold.

Browsers and additional software

Some users with browsers older than Netscape Communicator/Navigator 4.06 and Microsoft Internet Explorer 4.01 may see very simple pages due to the use of style sheets. This will not affect the functionality of the site. If you wish to upgrade your browser, please visit the Netscape Download Center or the Microsoft site.

Web Site Contributors

The Library web site is produced by over 30 staff throughout the Library services. These include staff responsible for content development:

Help for HTML production is provided by librarians, library assistants and administrative staff in the Library.

Web Site Management

The web site is managed by the Web Services Coordinator. Please contact the Web Services Coordinator with any questions or suggestions.