We’ve made this website easy to use. To help you find your way around some of the key features of the web site are explained below.

Navigation

All of the main sections of the web site can be selected from the menu bar at the left hand side of each page.

This will take you to a menu showing the topics that are covered in each section – just click on the one you want to see the content.

Wherever you are in the web site you will see a the section and page you are on highlighted in what is called a ‘breadcrumb trail‘, with a link back to the Home page or any other page you have arrived from.

For example, if you are on the ‘Facts and information sources’ page in the ‘Help and Information’ section of the web site, the breadcrumb trail will look like this:

Home»Help and information»Fact sheets and information sources

If you click ‘Help and information’ you will be taken back to the ‘Help and information’ menu, and the breadcrumb trail will change to look like this:

Home»Help and information

Finding the information you are looking for

The web site has lots of information on a variety of topics. We have organised the information under commonly used topic headings to help you to find what you are looking for as easily and quickly as possible.

You can also find information by using the web site’s Search function, which you can find in the top right hand corner of the Home Page.

Just type the word or words relating to what you are looking for into the Search box and either press the Enter key or click on the magnifying glass symbol on the right hand side of the Search box. A list of all the pages containing the word or words you have searched on will be displayed on the screen and you can click on any item on the list to be taken to that page.

Screen tips

We have included Screen Tips to explain the meaning of particular words and phrases that appear on the web site. Click on any highlighted text and you will see a ‘What’s this?’ link appear on the screen. Click on the link and an explanation will come up on the screen. Click on the link again, or press the Esc key to close the screen tip.

Access features

The web site includes a text to speech function. Just click on the audio symbol in the top right hand corner of each page to hear what is written on that page.

Alternatively, if you only want to hear part of a page, highlight any text using your mouse or keystrokes and the audio symbol will appear on the screen next to the highlighted text. Click on the audio symbol to listen to the text you have selected.

On some pages we have included an Easy Read version of the text. This will be shown with the Easy Read symbol, which looks like this:

Just click on the Easy Read symbol to see the text in Easy Read.

Each main section of the web site – which you can access from the menu bar at the left hand side of each page also has a video clip showing the text being signed in British Sign Language. Just click on the video to watch it.

You can also change the way text displays on your screen by clicking on the Accessibility options link at the top of each page, which looks like this:

Here you will be able to select different display contrast styles; change text size, or switch to plain text. You will also find notes with more details about each of the accessibility options and how to use them.