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Accessibility

Keyboard shortcuts

All of the main links in the menu bar above have keyboard shortcuts, which should be displayed underlined. If your browser has not underlined the keyboard shortcuts, they are summarised below:

Different browsers implement keyboard shortcuts in different ways. These implementations are summarised below for many of the most popular browsers.

Macintosh users

  • Firefox Ctrl + key Hold down the Ctrl key and press the shortcut key.
  • Safari 3 Ctrl + key Hold down the Ctrl key and press the shortcut key.
  • Safari 4 Ctrl + Option + key Hold down the Ctrl and Option keys and press the shortcut key.
  • Opera Shift + Esc + key Hold down the Shift and Esc keys and press the shortcut key.
  • Mozilla Ctrl + key Hold down the Ctrl key and press the shortcut key.
  • Netscape 6+ Ctrl + key Hold down the Ctrl key and press the shortcut key.

Windows users

  • Firefox 1 Alt + key Hold down the Alt key and press the shortcut key.
  • Firefox 2, 3, 4, 5 Shift + Alt + key Hold down the Alt and Shift keys and press the shortcut key.
  • Safari Alt + key Hold down the Alt key and press the shortcut key.
  • Opera Shift + Esc + key Hold down the Shift and Esc keys and press the shortcut key.
  • Internet Explorer Alt + key, Enter Hold down the Alt key and press the shortcut key. Release both and then press the Enter key.
  • Google Chrome Alt + key Hold down the Alt key and press the shortcut key.
  • Netscape 6+ Alt + key Hold down the Alt key and press the shortcut key.
  • Mozilla Alt + key Hold down the Alt key and press the shortcut key.

Linux users

  • Firefox 1 Alt + key Hold down the Alt key and press the shortcut key.
  • Firefox 2, 3, 4, 5 Shift + Alt + key Hold down the Alt and Shift keys and press the shortcut key.
  • Opera Shift + Esc + key Hold down the Shift and Esc keys and press the shortcut key.
  • Konqueror Ctrl, key Press and release the Ctrl key and then press the shortcut key.
  • Google Chrome, Chromium Alt + key Hold down the Alt key and press the shortcut key.
  • Netscape 6+ Alt + key Hold down the Alt key and press the shortcut key.
  • Mozilla Alt + key Hold down the Alt key and press the shortcut key.

Text size and contrast

Cocoa expresses all its relative layout measurements in ratios of character size, including its text sizes. This means Cocoa respects the font size setting you have specified in your browser settings. If your browser properly implements XHTML specifications and layout principles, this should also mean that you can simply use your browser’s facility for increasing the text size to make the site more readable if your vision is impaired, without altering the layout or relative positioning of elements on the page: the relative spacing between items should remain consistent and intuitive.

Cocoa also has a high-contrast mode. You can activate this by choosing High contrast mode in the Options box in the top-right of the browser window. Cocoa will remember your selection the next time you log in. Your selection is stored in a persistent cookie (see the help on Cookies if you want to know more), so if you change browser or clear out your cookies, or if you don’t log on to Cocoa for more than a year, Cocoa will revert to the default mode. Please note also that if you are using Internet Explorer version 8 or earlier, it is not able to remember your selection so you will need to select the high contrast mode every time the Cocoa loads a new page.

The keyboard shortcuts for increasing the text size in many popular browsers are summarised below:

Macintosh users

  • Firefox Ctrl + Shift + =
  • Safari Command + =
  • Opera
  • Mozilla Ctrl + Shift + =
  • Netscape 6+ Ctrl + Shift + =

Windows users

  • Firefox Ctrl + Shift + =
  • Safari Ctrl + =
  • Opera Ctrl + Shift + =
  • Internet Explorer 6 Ctrl + v, x, up-arrow/down-arrow, Enter
  • Internet Explorer 7+ Ctrl + = will zoom in on the page which produces a similar result but is likely to make the page wider than your browser window and/or screen; to just change the text size use the IE6 method above.
  • Google Chrome Ctrl + =
  • Netscape 6+ Ctrl + Shift + =
  • Mozilla Ctrl + Shift + =

Linux users

  • Firefox Ctrl + Shift + =
  • Opera Ctrl + Shift + =
  • Konqueror Ctrl + =
  • Google Chrome, Chromium Ctrl + =

In addition to keyboard-only shortcuts, many browsers implement a keyboard-and-mouse shortcut to increase or decrease the text size. Usually, this is activated by holding down the Ctrl key on the keyboard and using the scroll wheel on your mouse.

Screen readers

Cocoa does not use tables for page layout, so screen readers should be able to read page content with minimal disruption. Cocoa only uses tables for the presentation of data gathered from the database, such as to present users’ papers and memberships.

Cocoa v2.3.9 ©2024 NomadIT