Thatcham U3A

This statement addresses three main areas of accessibility for Thatcham U3A Web Site

This site has been developed using Joomla!, a full content management system that enables site owners to update their own content without affecting the layout of the site itself.

Front end (website)

The site as originally designed and developed complies with WCAG 1.0 Priority 2 and Section 508 requirements. Please note that while Joomla! will provide the ability to deliver WCAG compliant sites, many requirements depend on the content managers. As such, Joomla! sites may well not comply with WCAG, for reasons out of the control of the Core Development Team.

At the top right of each page are 5 icons that allow you to adjust your viewing experience:

Makes the text larger in increments
Makes the text smaller in increments
Resets all page settings
Sets the page to fixed width
Sets the page to fluid width, useful if you have a widescreen monitor

Back end (administration)

While Joomla! incorporates as many accessibility “features” in the back-end as possible, the technical changes required to reach WCAG compliance at this point involves an extensive re-write of the code. Such a re-write is planned for the 2.x series.

The back-end or administration area of a Joomla! driven site is not a public area. Unless the administrators have accessibility requirements themselves, the reduced compliance on the back-end does not impact accessibility levels.

Future plans

We are dedicated to complying with current web standards (XHTML, CSS, WCAG/508) and best practices. This will become possible as the Joomla! engine addresses known issues.

Third party applications

In some situations, Joomla! requires the use of 3rd party applications to assist with the functions of the website. Whilst we will aim to improve accessibility to those parts of our website, compliance remains outside of our control.

Concerns or Suggestions?

If you have concerns, issues or suggestions, please Contact Us