Accessibility

Standards Compliance

• All IPRO web sites are Section 508 aware, complying with all the U.S. Federal Government rules for accessibility.
• The IPRO web sites are written using XHTML 1.0 Transitional to maximize compatibility with all commonly-used browsers.
• The IPRO web sites satisfy most of the priority 1 and 2 checkpoints of the W3C Web Content Accessibility Guidelines. We are actively working to convert legacy pages to meet the full W3C WCAG priority 2 guidelines.
• The sites have been extensively user-tested to maximize accessibility regardless of the users’ ability.

Navigation Aids

• All pages include a cascading dynamic menu system, breadcrumb trail, tab-style links to switch between the three primary IPRO web sites, a search box, and links to both the home page and site map.
• If a page is not found then the web site will automatically search across all the IPRO web sites, finding and displaying any pages that may contain the content that the user was seeking. If no results are found then it will attempt to examine the syllables of the name of the attempted page and search the IPRO web sites for pages with phonetically similar names.
• Where appropriate, pages have related links to provide additional navigation.

Web Site Content

• The IPRO web sites contain a total of over 1,000 pages of content. Each page must pass a rigorous multi-user signoff process before being posted to the web site. The process starts with an IPRO project member producing content on a topic for which they have expertise. Upon completion, the project leader reviews the content for clinical accuracy and grants their approval. Following their approval, IPRO’s team of editors is alerted to the new content and verifies its style and consistency. Consequent to that, our technical team verifies the content meets the required XHTML and accessibility guidelines at which point the content is posted to the web site.

Visual Design

• The layout maintains consistency between all the IPRO web sites. The content is always in the center column and is preceded by the title and breadcrumb trail. The breadcrumb trail shows how to navigate to the current page from Home and provides links to the parent pages higher up in the content hierarchy. The primary cascading menu is in the left column of every IPRO web site except the home page, which contains three menus and acts as a switchboard directing users to content appropriate for them. Secondary navigation elements are at the base of the content and suggested links appear in the right side column in image format.
• The graphic at the top of the page containing the IPRO logo along with the color scheme differ with each site, uniquely identifying the various IPRO sites. The layout has been user tested and proven to place screen elements in the locations where they are most expected to appear.
• Visual layout and page aesthetics are exclusively controlled via cascading style sheets. If your browser or browsing device does not support stylesheets at all, the content of each page is still legible.
• Semantic markup is utilized granting the greatest possible control to assistive technologies.
• Relative font sizes permit the user to change the size of the web site text as needed. Most browsers provide methods to enlarge and reduce the text size. In Microsoft Internet Explorer, from the toolbar, under the “view” drop down menu there is a “text-size” option. Most browsers also include a shortcut for users with a scrolling mouse. By holding down the control key on the keyboard and simultaneously rolling the mouse scroll wheel up or down, the font size will contract or grow, respectively.
• Any page can be viewed and printed without the column layout and aesthetic elements by following the “printable page” link.

Links

• Many links have title attributes that describe the link in greater detail.
• Link text throughout the web sites has been written to make sense out of context.
• Link text and title is only duplicated if two links point to the same location.
• There are no “JavaScript:” pseudo-links or other configuration-specific links. All links can be followed regardless of whether scripting is enabled.

Images

• Images that convey meaning or enhance the content include textual descriptive attributes.
• Purely decorative graphics include attributes that direct screen readers to exclude the image from the audible output.

Internet Browsers

• The IPRO web sites have been extensively tested to be usable in all common browsers, regardless of whether CSS, JavaScript, or images are enabled or disabled.
• Testing has concluded that the content is accessible and sufficiently consistent when browsing with Microsoft Internet Explorer 4+, Netscape 6+, Mozilla 1.5+, Opera 7+, and all versions of Mozilla Firefox and the former Firebird.

Document Accessibility

• Some of the documents on our web site are in the Portable Document Format (PDF) and require Adobe Acrobat or a comparable program to view them.
• Additionally, there are some presentations in Flash format that require the Flash plug-in.
• All of the Flash and much of the PDF content has been made accessible by the guidelines set forth to do so by the respective creators of the formats, Macromedia and Adobe.
• Audio clips will be in the Real Audio format requiring the Real Player plug-in. Many audio clips have text transcripts; efforts are being made to provide transcripts for each and every multimedia recording.

Tips for Making Your PC More Accessible

• Make the text size bigger in your Web browser
• Slow down the mouse speed
• Learn the keyboard shortcuts
• Use “sticky keys” as an alternative to pressing multiple keys simultaneously
• Find out which assistive technologies are available to help you such as screen readers, tactile mice, and large key keyboards