GAD website has made efforts to improve basic menu navigation and labeling in order to provide a simple and effortless navigation experience to visitors using screen-reading software for Web browsing. We will continue to research and implement solutions that bring the GAD website top-level pages to the usual exemplary level in the areas of accessibility and universal design.
General Information
In the development of the GAD website, efforts have been made towards adding a significant number of accessibility features that complement the use of assistive technologies and help to make the website accessible to maximum possible users/visitors, ranging from those who use assistive technologies to those with a low end browser or computer.
For assistance with the content and function of this website, please use 'Helpline' link at the very bottom of every page. A link to the Accessibility page is also provided at the bottom of every page.
Guidelines
In the development of this site, we followed HTML 5.0 Transitional to meet Guidelines for Indian Government Websites and also adhere to Level AA of the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.0 laid down by the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C).
Most web browsers support linking to specific pages by typing named access keys:
Windows users
- Mozilla Firefox & Netscape: Press ALT + an access key.
- Microsoft Internet Explorer: Press ALT + an access key + ENTER
Macintosh users: Press CONTROL + an access key.
All pages on this site use the following access keys for common tasks:
- S - Skip to Content
- 1 - Home Page
- 2 - News
- 3 - Site Map
- 4 - Search
- 5 - About This Site
- 6 - Contact Us
- 0 - Accessibility
All pages contain a 'skip to content' link for users who use speech browsers or keyboard navigation and wish to avoid repeated groupings of links.
Visual Design
This site uses Cascading Style Sheets to control the overall presentation of the website. Turning off the style sheet will affect the visual presentation and may affect the functionality of the website for some users.
Changing Text Sizes
This site uses CSS relative font sizes, compatible with the user-specified 'text size' option in visual browsers. Changing the size of the text refers to making the text to appear smaller or bigger from its standard size. There are three options provided to you to set the size of the text that affect readability. These are:
- Largest: Displays information in the largest font size.
- Larger: Displays information in a font size larger than the standard font size
- Medium: Displays information in a standard font size, which is the default size.
The website allows you to change the text size in three different ways, by clicking on the text size icons present at the top of each page and through Accessibility Options page.
Text size Icons
Following different options are provided in the form of icons which are available on the top of each page:
- Decrease text size: Allows to decrease the text size up to two levels
- Normal text size: Allows to set default text size
- Increase text size: Allows to increase the text size up to two levels
Links and Images
Necessary links were assigned 'TITLE' attributes to describe the target in greater detail. Users of assistive technology may wish to set screen reader options to take full advantage of this feature.
Images used in this site include a descriptive 'ALT' attribute. Those images which are purely decorative or used for layout include a null 'ALT' attribute.
Tables
Screen reader table functions within screen readers may be used on this site. The tables are properly coded to take advantage these functions. Example: Using JAWS in Internet Explorer use Alt+Ctrl+Up or Down Arrow to properly read a table with table headers.
Changing the contrast Scheme
Changing the contrast scheme refers to applying a suitable background and text color that ensures clear readability. There are two options provided to change the contrast scheme. These are:
High contrast: Applies black color as the background and suitable colors to the foreground text on the screen to improve readability
Standard contrast: applies white color as the background and black color to the foreground text to set the default contrast.
The website allows you to change the contrast schemes in two different schemes, by clicking on the icons present at the top of each page and through the Accessibility Options page.
Contrast Scheme Icons
Two contrast scheme options are provided in the form of icons which are available on the top of each page:
High Contrast view: Applies black color to the background and suitable colors to the foreground.
Standard contrast view: Applies white color to the background and black color to the foreground.