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Accessibility of This Site

General Information

In the development of this site, we added a significant number of accessibility features. These features complement the user of assistive technologies and help make the site usable by the broadest audience possible.

For assistance with the content and function of this site, please use “Contact Us” link at the very bottom of every page. We also provide a link back to this Accessibility page at the bottom of each page. Persons using assistive devices should contact the Resource Center for Persons with Disabilities for assistive technology assistance.

Users of the JAWS screen reader: Please be aware that JAWS is designed to work best with Internet Explorer. If you are using JAWS but have selected to use another browser, JAWS may not be able to take advantage of the accessibility features provided within this site.

Note: Once you navigate outside of this site these accessibility features might not necessarily be implemented

Guidelines

In the development of this site, we followed the MSU Web Accessibility Policy and W.A. Policy Guidelines, both required and recommended elements.

Access Keys

Most Web browsers support linking to specific pages by typing named access keys:

  • Windows users
    • Firefox 1.0: Press ALT + access key
    • Firefox 2.0+: Press SHIFT + ALT + 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
  • 3 - Site Map
  • 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 all of the presentation. Turning off the style sheet will affect the visual presentation and may affect the functionality of the site for some users.

Changing Text Sizes

This site’s styling uses relative font sizes, compatible with the user-specified “text size” option in visual browsers. If you need to change the text size in the web browser, please see the following tutorials:

  • Changing Text Size in Internet Explorer [LINK]
  • Changing Text Size in Firefox [LINK]
  • Changing Text Size in Opera [LINK]

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, so the screen reader will bypass reading them.

Tables

  • We have coded tables for easier reading by screen readers. Example: Using JAWS in Internet Explorer, use Control - ALT - Right Arrow to properly read a table with table headers.

Tables used in this site include SUMMARY attributes to describe the table in greater detail.