Library

Accessibility on the Library Website

A primary focus of the redesign of the Library web site was to improve accessibility. Various accessible design elements have been added, including:

Access Keys

The use of "accesskeys" are to provide keyboard shortcuts for important navigation options. The following accesskeys are provided:

  • Alt 0 -provides a shortcut to La Trobe University home page
  • Alt 1 -provides a shortcut to Library home page
  • Alt 2 -provides a shortcut to Skip to Content
  • Alt 3 -provides a shortcut to About the Library
  • Alt 4 -provides a shortcut to Contact Library
  • Alt 5 -provides a shortcut to Campus Libraries
  • Alt 6 -provides a shortcut to Library A to Z sitemap
  • Alt 7 -provides a shortcut to Library Search
  • Alt 8 -provides a shortcut to Library Help
  • Alt 9 -provides a shortcut to Accessibility Page

To use the accesskeys, hold down the alt key [Mac users: control key] and press the relevant number key. Note: accesskeys only work in a number of browsers. In Internet Explorer, you may need to press enter after using the accesskey. In Mozilla, Netscape 6+, and Opera 7+ the link should be automatically activated.

Text Size
Most browsers also have a feature that allows you to change text size.
  • Internet Explorer from the menu bar select View, then Text Size, and choose a suitable text size.
  • Mozilla from the menu bar select View, then Text Zoom, and choose a suitable text size.
    Alternatively, using Ctrl + (hold the control key [Mac users: command key] down and press the plus key) will increase text size, while Ctrl - (hold the control key [Mac users: command key] down and press the minus key) will decrease it
Cascading Style Sheets
Relative sizes have been used for fonts and most other attributes (table widths, etc.). Padding and margins around some elements are given absolute values.
Images
Alt attributes are applied to all images. Blank Alt attributes are used only for decorative or layout purposes. Images are not used for navigation of the site.
Tables
Layout tables all have summaries of the form "Layout table for...".
Structural markup
Throughout the site, structural markup has been used. Page headings and sub-headings are indicated by the use of the header elements h2, h5 etc. Important items have been highlighted with the use of strong or em, and lists have been marked up using ul and li.
Scripting
Users can turn off JavaScript or other client side technologies and still gain full access to the content on the site. Any scripting is handled on the server side.
W3C Compliant
The library site is written for conformance to W3C XHTML recommendations and other HTML standards.
Valid XHTML 1.0! Valid CSS!