We are committed to ensuring our online services are as accessible as possible to all users. To achieve this we have built our site to comply with the World Wide Web Consortium's (W3C) Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG). These guidelines assist website developers by describing best practices to implement websites that will be accessible to all users.

• This site complies with WCAG Level Double-A of the Guidelines, available at http://www.w3.org/TR/1999/WAI-WEBCONTENT-19990505, with the small number of known exceptions itemized below.
• This site also complies with the guidelines found in Section 508 of the US Federal Government Rehabilitation Act.

Pages on this site were authored using technologies selected to produce a user-friendly and visually pleasing website. Some older browsers may not support these technologies and while we make every effort to accommodate these browsers, it may be necessary to disable some features, such as Cascading Style Sheets (which controls the colours and fonts used) or JavaScript (which builds interactive dynamic content) on your browser to view the site.

If your browser does not support these technologies (or if they are disabled), the content of each page is still readable although the look and layout will be significantly altered. Best efforts have been made to make the site functional without these advanced features.

We recommend that users keep their browsers up-to-date to take advantage of new technologies. For more information on which browsers we support see the Browser Requirements section of this site.

Pages were also created to allow visually impaired users to use the site effectively using a screen reading aid. For example, all images have text describing the image, Title attributes tell users where a link will take them if they click on it, and structured headings are used so users can get an overview of the site and jump quickly to desired sections.

EXCEPTIONS

• Calendar pop-ups for our product application forms and our calculators do not function if the Cascading Style Sheets are switched off when you view the site. If you are using a screen reading aid to help you, it will not be able to read the contents of the calendar. Simply enter the date manually by typing it in the following format: MM-DD-YYYY.
• In our Products and Services section of the site, on both request forms and application forms, a screen reading aid will read the first heading of the form twice.
  
  

ADJUSTING YOUR BROWSER SETTINGS

Our Internet Banking service can be adapted for use by partially sighted members. You can change some of the options in your Internet browser and, using the latest version of Internet Explorer, you will be able to:

• alter the colour of most text (but not images)
• alter the background colour (black text on a yellow background gives the most contrast)
• alter the line length, by changing the size and shape of your browser window
• override the colour schemes of this website and others with your preferred settings

Refer to the accessibility topic in the help section of your browser for details on how to change your browser settings.

TECHNOLOGIES USED

If you are technically inclined or wish to know more about how we achieve accessibility on this site, you may be interested in reading below.

• All pages on this site were authored using Extensible Hypertext Markup Language (XHTML) 1.0 Transitional for markup.
• Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) have been used for visual layout, which follow the principle of separating content from presentation. If you are having difficulty reading the web pages because of the colours, fonts, etc, you can disable the CSS on your browser to view the site. Best efforts have been made to make the site functional without the use of CSS or JavaScript, although the look and layout will be significantly altered.
• Some pages on this site have been created using JavaScript (DOM 1/2) for browser effects.
• All pages in this site use structured semantic markup. H1 tags are used for main titles, H2 tags for subtitles, etc. This helps users get an overview of the site when using an access aid and jump quickly to desired sections of the site.
• Many links have TITLE attributes, except those where the text of the link already fully describes the target. These attributes describe where a link will take you if you click it to help you navigate effectively through the site.
• This site has been checked using W3C Validators for both XHTML and CSS. However, some features, such as banking and calculator pages, use legacy code and may not validate.
  
  

TESTING AND VALIDATION

To test for compliance, we have used the following accessibility aids and resources:

• W3C WCAG Guidelines
• IBM aDesigner version1.02 - a disability simulator that helps Web designers ensure that their pages are accessible and usable by the visually impaired.
• JAWS 4.51 Screen reader software for the visually impaired.
• This site has been checked using W3C Validators for both XHTML and CSS. However, some complex interactive features of this site, such as banking and calculator pages, may not validate.
• This site has been cross-checked using Internet Explorer (5.5 +, PC only), FireFox (1.0, PC and Mac) and Safari (1.2 +, Mac only).

If you have any difficulties accessing any aspects of the site, please contact us.