Accessibility

This is a Browsealoud-enabled website. You can find out more about Browsealoud on our Browsealoud page.

Accessibility guidelines
Glasgow Museums' website has been developed to guidelines promoted by the World Wide Web Consortium and adopted by the government for government related websites. You can find out more from the Web Accessibility Initiative website.

Browsers and Platforms
The site has been tested and found to be displaying properly on the following:

Internet Explorer 5 and above on Windows
Internet Explorer 5.2 on Mac
Firefox 1.5+ on Windows
Safari 1.0.3 on Mac
Opera 8.01 and 9 on Windows

Screen Resolution
Glasgow Museums' website has been developed to be viewed at a screen resolution of 600 x 800 pixels and above, but is best viewed at a screen resolution of 1024 x 768 pixels.

Font Sizes
The website uses relative font sizes which can be resized in your web browser.

Font Size and Contrast - how to change font size and change contrast

On the top of our website, to the right of the search facility, there are six icons using the letter 'a' .

If you hover over the icons with your cursor, you will see 'alt tags' that tell you what each button does. From left to right, they are:

Small Text Size, High Contrast
Medium Text Size, High Contrast
Large Text Size, High Contrast
Large Text Size
Medium Text Size
Small Text Size

The 'high contrast' buttons turn the screen background black and the text colour to yellow, and remove the images from the site. The text size buttons alter the text size only. These functions allow a range of accessibility options.

Font Size - changing font size by using your browser settings
You can also change text size through the browser functions.

In Internet Explorer, you do this by clicking on the 'View' menu in the browser tool bar, select 'Text Size', then you can choose either: 'Large'; 'Larger'; 'Medium'; 'Smaller'; 'Smallest'.

In Netscape Navigator, go to the 'View' menu in the browser tool bar, select 'Increase Font' or 'Decrease Font' until the text is set to the size you prefer.

Screen Resolution
You can also change text size by changing the screen resolution on your computer monitor. In a Windows based computer, you do this by right clicking on your desk top, select 'Properties', click on the 'Settings' tab, then moving the 'Screen Area' slider to the left for low resolution, which makes text size larger, or to the right, which makes text size smaller.

Our website is best viewed at a screen resolution of 800 x 600 pixels or above, but is best viewed at a screen resolution of 1024 x 768 pixels. However, you can view it at a lower resolution, but this will probably mean you having to scroll sideways on some pages. This will depend on a number of things such as the size of your monitor and what version of Internet Explorer or other web browser you have installed on your computer.

You can download an updated version of Internet Explorer from the Microsoft website, and other browsers such as Netscape Navigator from the manufacturer's or developer's website. Netscape Navigator is produced for Macs by Apple and can be downloaded for free from the Apple website.

Navigation
As well as navigating through the website with a mouse, you can also navigate by using the tab key on your keyboard.

Images
Images on the slide show facility are best viewed at a screen resolution of 1024 x 768 pixels. Some slide show images viewed at a screen resolution lower than 1024 x 768 pixels will appear cropped or cut off on the right hand side. All images have the 'alternative text attribute' which provides a text description of the image.

Downloadable Text Files
Downloadable text files will open in a new browser window.

Where possible, downloadable text files will be available in both Portable Document Format (PDF) and rich text format (rtf). To view PDF files, you will need to have Adobe Acrobat Reader installed on your computer, and links will be provided so you can download the software for free from Adobe's website. Links to downloadable text documents will include information on the size of the file to be downloaded.

Files in rich text format can be opened by most basic word processing programmes, and your computer will usually come with this type of software already installed.

Listening to PDFs - Read Out Loud
The latest version of Adobe Reader, comes with the ability to 'read' the PDF content to you. This function is known as 'Read Out Loud' and can be accessed as follows:

With the PDF you want read to you open in Adobe Reader version 6 or later, go to the 'View' menu and select 'Read Out Loud', you will then have the option to 'Read This Page Only' or 'Read To End Of Document'.

You can download the latest version of Adobe Acrobat Reader from Adobe's website.

QuickTime Files
QuickTime files on our website should be viewed with QuickTime Viewer, and this can be downloaded for free from Apple's website.

Links
Internal links will open in the same browser window. Most links to external websites will open in a new browser window. Where a link opens in a new window, the link text will mention this.

Useful Resources
You can find a range of useful information on accessibility from the following websites:

JAWS
JAWS for Windows is, 'A software programme that reads information on your screen using synthesized speech. JAWS provides many useful commands that make it easier to use programs, edit documents, and read Web pages. With a refreshable braille display, JAWS can also provide braille output in addition to, or instead of, speech.

A free 30 trial version of JAWS can be downloaded from Freedom Scientific's website.

Alternative Web Browsing
The Web Accessibility Initiative provides information on alternative web browsing. The purpose of the information is, 'To reflect the whole range of approaches used for browsing.' Find out more from the Web Accessibility Initiative's website.

Web Accessibility Initiative
'The World Wide Web Consortium's (W3C) commitment to lead the Web to its full potential includes promoting a high degree of usability for people with disabilities.' Find out more from the Web Accessibility Initiative's website.

RNIB - Royal National Institute for the Blind
The RNIB has developed a Web Access Centre. 'The Web Access Centre site has been developed as a free online resource centre for designers and managers.'  Find out more from the Web Access Centre website.

Disability Rights Commission (DRC)
The Disability Rights Commission (DRC) is 'An independent body established in April 2000 by Act of Parliament to stop discrimination and promote equality of opportunity for disabled people.'  Visit the Disability Rights Commission  (DRC) website.

You can read the DRC's Formal Investigation report: web accessibility.

Feedback
If you would like to make any comments about our website, or you would like to make an enquiry, please use our Feedback facility, or email us at: museums@cls.glasgow.gov.uk

Venue Access Information
Access information for each of our museums can be found by following the links below:

Burrell Collection
Fossil Grove
Gallery of Modern Art
Glasgow Museums Resource Centre
Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum
Martyrs' School
McLellan Galleries
Museum of Transport
Open Museum
People's Palace and Winter Gardens
Pollok House
Provand's Lordship
Scotland Street School Museum
St Mungo Museum of Religious Life and Art

DisabledGo
Launched to mark the European Year of Disabled People, DisabledGo is an ambitious Internet service which will transform the daily choices available to millions of disabled people, their families and friends. Founded by wheelchair user Gregory Burke and supported by Marks & Spencer and leading local authorities, this innovative service is opening up towns and cities across the UK. Visit the Disabled Go website.