Accessibility Statement
This website is created with accessibility at the forefront of its design to ensure it can be read, used and navigated by everyone.
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Like in the real world, as an example, public stairs would have alternative options for people to use such as access to a lift or ramp, and the same principles applies online too. Our website has alternatives ways to use it, on a variety of devices, that will suit everyone's needs. Should our site and its design not be enough, there are plenty of options provided by web browsers to make the web and websites, like ours, more accessible.
Our Accessibility Statement explains how the design and intended use of the 1st Sid Vale website consider accessibility for everyone. We're continuing to improve our website, by updating it and adding new features, which is designed to enhance the user experience. Our ongoing improvements are matched with our continued commitment to making our website as inclusive as possible through its design. If you have any comments, you can reach out to us by contacting us or click here to let us know your thoughts.
Independent Advice
For the best comprehensive introduction to web accessibility and the fundamentals we follow too, check out w3.org/WAI/fundamentals/accessibility-intro/. Additional design and accommodating features by SidMedia.
Accessibility Support
If you're using our website or any of our services and have issues with the accessibility of the site or services, please don't hesitate to reach out to us and we'll be more than happy to assist you.
Accessibility Statement
Taking into consideration the Accessibility Fundamentals on w3.org, we take the necessary steps to our websites; standards, structure, navigation, typography, performance, digital media, digital documents, and customisation of our website.
Whilst we do our best to always comply with this statement, sometimes this might not always be possible on certain webpages and/or features on our website or other Scouting related services. If you have any concerns or are having any problems accessing or using our website or another Scout related service, please contact us or your ask your Leader.
Standards
Our website is built on a leading web cloud based, drag-and-drop website creator and editor - combining code and their web apps. Using the best practices in web standards such as HTML and CSS, we can ensure that out HTML is valid and we keep content separate from presentation using CSS for layouts and styles of web elements and pages. Web browsers can interpret this information and show the website correctly according to the device in use and the code.
The use of the standardised language is that it's supported by all the mainstream web browsers for desktop and mobile devices. We continue to strive to improve our website for all users, however, we are unable to support old operating systems, web browsers or similar technologies that are being used by increasingly fewer users.
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Structure
The structure to every webpage on our website has been considered carefully to optimise the site for the user and widest possible audience.
Each webpage will have at least one or more of the following elements used to structure a page; a header (with the page title), section (or sections with the page content) and a footer (with terms and links to other key pages on our website, see Navigation for more information).
All elements are organised to help the user find the information they're looking for quickly or to present information logically.
Navigation
Navigation is explained here on the Using our Site page.
Typography
Text size, spacing, and colour are designed to provide an easy reading experience. Relative, rather than proportional, sizes are used to allow text to be easily resized. Headings are used to provide context, breaks in text and allow for scanning (scan reading). Text links are chosen to describe the destination and are differentiated by being a different colour and underlined, sometimes. When appropriate text links are also given titles to further expand meaning. Colours used on our site offer sufficient contrast to ensure clear readability.
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Performance
Using the very best web hosting technologies by our hosts, we do our best to ensure a reliable connection to our website. A strong internet connection and use of our site are important factors for a variety of reasons. Many different variables can affect the performance of a webpage on our website or the whole website such as large files and media. Poor design of our online services, elements or interactive elements can result in poor performance for the user. See more about performance in digital media and documents below.
Digital Media
Digital media content such as images are videos are uploaded, attached and linked on this website in the by use of the most appropriate methods. For example, images can be simply uploaded to our website - taking into consideration the file size. The size of the image will affect how long it takes for the user to access our website with a slow internet connection.
Videos, on the other hand, are uploaded to third-party video platforms such as YouTube as this provides the user with an alternative platform to view videos. Platforms like YouTube, make it easy for people to add subtitles and customise the web-player.
Digital Documents
We sometimes make files available as PDFs (Portable Document Format), a common internet file format. This format allows for electronic distribution of documents agnostic of computing device or browser. We often use PDF documents for digital copies of our printed publications/media.
To view PDF files you will need a PDF document reader, of which there are various types available. Adobe Acrobat is a well-known PDF reader that can be installed and used free of charge.
Customisation of our website
Many modern browsers and operating systems provide excellent tools for changing the display of websites or performing tasks such as increasing text sizes or customising fonts. We recommend these, as they provide a better experience than what we could realistically provide by developing our own.