BOC is committed to taking all reasonable steps to ensure that material published on our web site is accessible to all users, including people with disabilities.

All content appearing on the BOConline.co.uk site has been developed to conform to the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI) Web Content Accessibility Guidelines version 1.0 (WCAG 1.0).   We  are working towards a minimum level of Double-A conformance to WCAG 1.0. We acknowledge that we currently use deprecated features which means that the page coding does not validate against the specified document type. However testing with users has shown that this is not detrimental to real-life accessibility.

All new content on BOConline.co.uk will be developed to the same standard.

If you have difficulties accessing pages on this site please contact us and we will be happy to supply the information in an alternative form.

Some key accessibility features are described below for those who may wish to take advantage of them. More information on making our pages easier to use by making changes to your browser, computer, keyboard and mouse settings can be found at the My Web My Way site provided by BBC. This includes information for uses of PC Windows, Apple Mac and Linux operating systems.

We've made navigation links consistent between pages throughout the site. The site is also fully accessible using only the keyboard and can be navigated with scripting disabled.

A 'skip to page contents' link is provided on each page that will enable users of browsers such as screen readers to jump directly to the main content on the page, avoiding all of the standard navigation links.

All images that provide information have appropriate alternative text such that the information is available to people who cannot see the images.

Images that are provided for decoration are provided as either background images or have NULL (empty quote marks) alternative text.

A site map  is provided to assist with navigation.

Pages are built in such a way that all pages should display correctly and legibly if you make changes to 'Text Size' within your browser's 'View' settings.

Simple tables are used for presenting key data. The row and column headings for the data tables are identified (using TH) making their use easier for screen reader users.

Styling and layout has been achieved using Cascading Style Sheets (CSS). The site will still be usable if CSS is disabled. Disabling of CSS will result in a well structured single column page that will be styled according to the default settings of your browser.

Our website does not use pop-up windows unless they are appropriate. Acceptable cases, for example, are when it is important to see the browser window you've just navigated from in the background.

We have strived to ensure our website conforms to level A compliance as specified by the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG).