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Accessibility statement for the Eye Site

The International Council of Ophthalmology (ICO) has made every effort to make the Eye Site accessible to users with different capabilities, particularly those with low vision and who are blind.

(The ICO is the executive body and operational arm of the International Federation of Ophthalmological Societies (IFOS).)

If you have any questions, comments or suggestions about the accessibility of the site, please send them to access@icoph.org.

This page contains information on accessibility and tips for easier access.

Access keys and how to use them

Many modern browsers support jumping to specific links or locations that have been defined for a Web site by typing "access keys." On Windows, you press ALT plus an access key; on Macintosh, you press Control plus an access key.

So, for example, if you press ALT (Control on a Mac) plus the number 1 on any page of the Eye Site, you will go back to the Home page.

(For some browsers, you need to click somewhere on the Web page first for access keys to work. Also, on some browsers, certain access keys work, while others do not.)

All pages on the Eye Site use the following access keys:

Access key 1: Home page

Access key 2: Skip navigation, go to main content

Access key 3: Find: navigation tips, link to Site Map, help

Access key 4: Search: text box for entering the word or phrase to be found

Access key 5: Search Submit (you should enter the word or phrase to be found (access key 4) first)

Access key 7: News

Access key 8: Terms and Conditions and Privacy

Access key 9: Contact / Feedback

Access key 0: Accessibility information and list of access keys (this page)

Tab keys

Pressing the Tab key for the first time on any page of the Eye Site takes you to input area of the Search form, where you can enter a word or words you want to find on the site.

Pressing the Tab key a second time selects the "Go" button for the Search form. Either press the Go button or "Enter" to search for the words you have entered.

Pressing the Tab key again repeatedly will select each link on the page, starting with the navigation links on the top of each page and then on the left. If you press enter, you will follow the link selected.

Skip navigation

For users with screen readers or other navigation tools, there is a link toward the top of each page labeled "Skip Navigation." It allows you to skip over the navigation links and go directly to the start of content.

You can also Skip Navigation by pressing ALT plus 2 (Control plus 2 on a Mac).

Search and other navigation aids

In addition to the Search function (access key 4) in the upper right of each page, the Eye Site offers a variety of other navigational aids. These include:

For more details, see Find: Tips and Tools for Navigation and Finding Information on the ICO Eye Site.

Links designed for accessibility

Whenever possible, links to other locations are written in descriptive text to make sense out of context. Many browsers (such as JAWS, Home Page Reader, Lynx, and Opera) can extract the list of links on a page and allow the user to browse the list, separately from the page.

When descriptive text is not possible, links have title attributes which describe the link in greater detail.

Link text is never duplicated on a page; two links with the same text always point to the same address.

There are no javascript pseudo-links. All links can be followed in any browser, even if scripting is turned off.

There are no links that open new windows without warning.

Graphics and photographs

Graphics are not used for navigation on the Eye Site, and the use of other graphics has been kept to a minimum.

All images and photographs include "Alt" attributes in the coding, which describe the image for individuals with screen readers or those who don't see the images.

Any more complex images have "Longdesc" attributes and links to text-only descriptions to explain each image to non-visual readers.

Separation of content and presentation

To make pages more accessible, as well as to conform to current and likely future standards for Web sites, the Eye Site separates the content of pages from the design and formatting (fonts, colors, etc.)

The content is contained in the coding of the pages, which is written in Extensible HyperText Markup Language (XHTML). XHTML is a subset of Extensible Mark-up Language (XML), the format in which much electronic data and information will be kept in the future.

To make the site and pages as compatible as possible with older browsers, the Eye Site uses XHTML 1.0 Transitional.

Visual design / increasing the size of text

This Eye Site uses external Cascading Style Sheets (CSS), Level 2 for visual layout and text formatting.

Some visual browsers allow users to increase the size of text for easier reading (e.g., View > Text Size > Larger in some versions of Internet Explorer and View > Text Zoom in others). The main style sheet for the Eye Site uses relative values for fonts and for the layout of pages, so that, if the size of type is increased, the layout expands proportionately.

A secondary style sheet is provided to make pages in older browsers (e.g., Netscape 4) appear as close to the desired design as possible.

If your browser or browsing device does not support style sheets at all, the content of each page is still readable.

Designed for printing

A print style sheet is used to eliminate the need for separate "text-only" or other pages designed for printing.

If you print from your browser or are able to "Print Preview," the print style sheet will generate a page with the same content but without background colors, navigation links, etc.

Logical structuring

All pages of the ICO Eye Site are divided into logical sections and coded so that different kinds of browsers (visual, aural, etc.) recognize these sections.

Header 1 (H1) tags are used for the title of the Web site and major sections (e.g., Ophthalmic Education), Header 2 (H2) for titles of pages, and Header 3 for the headings of individual items within a page.

Acronyms and abbreviations

We try to use as few acronyms and abbreviations as possible. When we do use them, we include the full name with the first use on each page, e.g., "International Council of Ophthalmology (ICO)."

We also try to identify acronyms in the XHTML coding, but some older pages do not have this coding, and many browsers do not recognize it.

There is a list of some acronyms and abbreviations used throughout this site.

Portable Document Format (PDF)

Some files are available in Portable Document Format (PDF). Adobe Systems, Inc. provides an online conversion tool for PDF documents.

More information regarding the accessibility of PDF files is available at the Access Adobe Web site.

Validation of accessibility and standards compliance

Every effort is made to comply with accessibility and other emerging Web guidelines and standards and to validate compliance.

Bobby WorldWide Approved AAA1. All pages are AAA validated by Bobby as complying with The Web Accessibility Initiatives' priority 1, 2, and 3 of the W3C's Web Content Accessibility Guidelines.

Bobby WorldWide Approved 5082. All pages are validated by Bobby as complying with U.S. Section 508 guidelines for accessibility adopted by the U.S. Architectural and Transportation Barriers Compliance Board .

Valid XHTML 1.0!3. All pages validate as XHTML 1.0 Transitional by the Web Design Group HTML Validator and the W3C MarkUp Validation Service.

Valid CSS!4. The cascading style sheets used for page layout and formatting validate at the W3C CSS Validation Service.


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