Accessibility Information

Accessibility Information For Disabled Users

In order to make this tutorial more accessible for users with vision, hearing, or mobility disabilities, the content and format have been modified to comply with the U.S. federal Section 508 Web Standards. Frames are not used and navigation through the website has been kept simple. No animated or flickering graphics are included in order to reduce the danger for people susceptible to photoepileptic seizures. All of the content can be accessed with a mouse or the keyboard alone, and all of the critical text and tables are understandable with the Jaws screen reader program. No drag-and-drop actions are required.

All sections of this tutorial are accessible from the main menu page that you just left. At the bottom or top of all other pages, there is a text link that will take you back to that menu. These links are labeled "Return to Menu." At the bottom of each main tutorial content section you will also find text links that will take you to the next and the previous sections. In addition, there is a text link that will take you to an interactive practice quiz. You also can move backward through the webpages that you have visited by simultaneously pressing the Alt and Left Arrow keys. It is recommended that you go through the topic sections in the order that they are listed.

Specific Accessibility Provisions

Graphic navigation buttons, pictures, and other illustrations in this tutorial have alt tags that provide written descriptions of the images. By placing your cursor over them, the alternative text will be displayed if you are using Internet Explorer. Most other browser programs will not display them.

Key words within the tutorials are hot linked to definitions within the glossary. When you are finished reading the definition, you can return to where you were in a tutorial by either clicking the "Back" link at the top of your web browser or the "Return to Last Page" link at the top of the glossary page. Alt-Left Arrow will also return you to the last page.

Many of the key words and phrases within the tutorial are followed by a graphic icon that looks like a microphone and has an alt tag that reads "click this icon to hear the preceding term pronounced." When you click it, a sound recording of the proper U.S. English pronunciation of the term will be played for you in whatever program you have set as the default to play MP3 recordings on your computer.

The Jaws program sometimes has difficulty reading data tables correctly. To reduce confusion, data tables in this tutorial have column and row headers designated. Proportional sizing also was used so that tables may be viewed at different levels of magnification without distortion. If you have difficulty understanding a table and believe that an additional written description is necessary, email me at doneil@palomar.edu with an explanation of the problem including the webpage URL, the title of the table that is unclear, and your suggestions for improvement.

Many of the tutorials in this series have links to videos. Most of these videos have an accompanying alternative streaming text of the narrative that can be read. In order to access these closed captions, make sure that your media player program is set to display them.

Graphic images have been created so as to be understandable for people who have difficulty distinguishing colors of similar hues and contrasts. If you encounter any illustration or table that is difficult for you to comprehend because of a color discrimination problem, email me at doneil@palomar.edu with a specific description of the problem including the webpage URL, the title or description of the illustration that is unclear, and your suggestions for improvement.

The practice quizzes were created with JavaScript coding in order to make them interactive. While they are intended to be navigated with a mouse, they can be used with the keyboard alone. However, depending on your specific kind of computer, you may need to experiment at first with navigating them. A combination of the Tab, Space Bar, and Arrow keys should work. Jaws can handle the quizzes satisfactorily.

The online flashcard learning aids utilize popup boxes that were partly created with XHTML coding. Subsequently, they may not be readable with the Jaws program. However, printable versions of the flashcards in table format are provided. They can be used online with Jaws or downloaded in Microsoft Word DOC format.

The crossword puzzles included in some of the tutorials were created with JAVA coding. Subsequently, they are not likely to be readable with Jaws. Likewise the printable versions of the crossword puzzles are only partly useable with Jaws.

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