Key Laboratory Services, Inc.

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Accessibility Statement - Key Laboratory Services

Accessibility and usability features, and tips for people with disabilities when using this Web site.

Accessibility Statement

"The power of the Web is in its universality. Access by everyone regardless of disability is an essential aspect."

-- Tim Berners-Lee, W3C Director and inventor of the World Wide Web

Our Committment to Accessibility

Key Laboratory Services is committed to ensuring that this Web site is accessible to everyone, regardless of disability or the browsing device used. We welcome your feedback regarding our present and ongoing efforts to improve the user experience for all visitors. If you have any questions or suggestions regarding the accessibility of this site, please contact our webmaster.

Using our Accessibility Features

Access Keys

Many browsers support jumping to specific links by typing keys defined in the web page. In most Windows browsers, you can press Alt + an access key. In Internet Explorer, you may need to press Enter afterward. In later versions of Firefox, you may need to use Alt + Shift + an access key. In most Macintosh browsers, you can press Control + an access key.

All content pages define the following access keys:

Access key 1
Home page
Access key 2
Site Map
Access key 3
Contact Us
Access key 4
Search box
Access key 0
Accessibility Statement

Keep in mind that access keys often conflict with keyboard shortcuts defined by the browser or operating system. Because of this, we cannot ensure that the access keys we have defined will work in all situations.

Tab Indexes

Tab Indexes in Pages

Many browsers support navigating through a web page by using the Tab key. As the Tab key is repeatedly pressed, links are highlighted in a specific order defined in the Web page. Pressing Shift + Tab will navigate through the indexed links in reverse order.

All content pages define the following tab index order:

  1. Home page
  2. Site Map
  3. Contact Us
  4. Main menu: Food, Water, and Cosmetics
  5. Main menu: Indoor Air Quality
  6. Main menu: Protein Analyzer Tubes
  7. Main menu: Custom Chemical Manufacturing
  8. Main menu: About Us
  9. Main Menu: Resources
  10. Search box

Thereafter, repeated pressing of the Tab key should cycle through the remaining links in the page in the order in which they appear in the underlying markup.

Tab Indexes in Forms

In addition to the tab indexing defined in our pages as previously described, tab indexes have also been defined in the forms that appear on the site. This allows users to navigate from field to field in logical order using the Tab key.

Keep in mind that support for tab indexing may vary among browsers. Because of this, we cannot ensure that the tab index order we have defined will work in all situations.

Main Menu

All pages on this site feature a main navigation menu. This menu may be accessed by the keyboard as follows:

  • When the focus is on any top-level menu item, pressing the Tab key will move the focus forward among the top-level items. Pressing Shift + Tab will move the focus backward. See the section on Tab Indexes above.
  • The arrow keys may also be used to move about in the menu:
    • Use left and right arrow keys to move among the top-level menu items.
    • Use the down arrow key to open a submenu from the focused top-level item, if that item has a submenu.
    • Use the up and down arrow keys to move among the links in a submenu.
    • Use the left arrow to open a submenu from a focused submenu item, if that item has a submenu.
    • Use the right arrow to close a submenu and return to the parent submenu link.
  • Press Esc to close open submenus.
  • Press Enter to go to the link destination.

Other Navigation Aids

  • Pages other than the home page have a "breadcrumb" trail of links leading up to the home page.
  • All pages on this site include a search box (access key 4). A script has been implemented that will pop up a list of recent successful searches when any search box receives the focus. To close this popup, click the popup's close box or press Esc.
  • A full site map is in place, with a link to the site map on every page (access key 3).

Headings and Semantic Markup

All pages in this site use structured semantic markup, including proper use of heading tags. Visitors using recent versions of screen readers can navigate using the following keystrokes:

  • H to cycle forwards through the headings
  • Shift + H to cycle backwards through the headings
  • 1 to navigate to the next level 1 heading (or a number between 1 and 6 to navigate to the next heading on this level)
  • Shift + 1 to navigate to the previous level 1 heading (or a number between 1 and 6 to navigate to the previous heading on this level)
  • INSERT + F6 to provide a list of all headings

Other browsers or assistive technologies may provide different or additional functionality based on headings that appear in the page. For example, current versions of Opera have excellent keyboard navigation that is invaluable to visitors with motor difficulties. In Opera, the following keys can be used to navigate headings:

  • S to cycle forwards through the headings
  • W to cycle backwards through the headings

Text Size and Type Contrast

Care has been taken to allow users to adjust the text size in browsers that provide that functionality; while maintaining the integrity of the layout. In most browsers, the text size may be adjusted by selecting the Text Size option under the View menu.

In addition, alternate style sheets have been implemented that specify larger text. In browsers that support alternate style sheets, users can switch between 'Normal Font' or 'Large Font' styles. If JavaScript is enabled, a font size switcher appears on most pages, making it easy to alter text size on the fly directly from within the page.

Colors, background images, and fonts have been chosen to maintain good screen contrast and readability.

Because Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) have been used to separate page content from the layout and styling, users who prefer to browse using the browser's default fonts and colors may turn CSS styling off while maintaining a readable presentation.

Links

All links have the title attribute, which describes the link in greater detail. Whenever possible, links are written to make sense when read out of context. There are no JavaScript-dependent pseudo-links, so all links can be followed in any browser, even if scripting is turned off. Where links are configured to open in a new window, a small icon like this Icon to indicate a link will open in a new window appears. This icon is visible in all standards-compliant browsers we have tested, except Internet Explorer 6 and below.

Acronyms and Abbreviations

Due to its technical nature, this site makes use of many acronyms and abbreviations. Instances are defined with the appropriate HTML tag. In cases where the same abbreviation or acronym appears more than once in a page, only the first instance is marked up as such. Keep in mind that older browsers may not render acronym or abbreviation markup consistently. For example, Internet Explorer 6 renders acronyms correctly, but not abbreviations.

Images and Graphics

All inline images used on this site include descriptive "alt" or "longdesc" attributes. Purely decorative graphics and images do not appear inline with text or other elements for the most part; but have been separated from actual content through the use of CSS.

Browser Compatibility

A great deal of effort has been put into making the site fully usable and functional in all modern visual browsers, as well as text-only browsers, screen readers, and handheld devices. The site has been tested and found to perform optimally in Microsoft Internet Explorer 6 and higher, Mozilla Firefox 1.5 and higher, and Apple Safari 1.5 and higher. This covers an estimated 90% of visitors. Extensive efforts have been made such that older browsers which do not fully support current Web standards will "degrade gracefully," while still providing good usability.

JavaScript and CSS

We believe an important part of achieving accessibility on the Web is not forcing the user to adopt technologies of the designer's choosing, but to respect the choices made by the user regarding the technologies they utilize. While the site makes extensive use of Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) and JavaScript, they are used to enhance the user experience only; great care has been taken such that neither technology is relied upon in implementing core functionality. For example, our drop down navigation menus use JavaScript, but alternate non-JavaScript links have been provided throughout, so that the site is fully navigable and all pages are reachable, even with JavaScript turned off. Also, even though our visual design and layout uses CSS, every part of the site well organized and easily readable, even with CSS turned off.

Our Committment to Standards

Key Laboratory Services is committed to Web standards as defined by the Word Wide Web Consortium (W3C), which is an important part of maintaining accessibility on the Web.

  • All pages without forms comply with all Priority 1, Priority 2, and Priority 3 W3C Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 1.0. Pages that contain forms comply with Priority 1 and Priority 2 of the WCAG 1.0.
  • All pages comply with the standards set forth in the 1998 Ammendment to Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act (29 U.S.C. 794d).
  • All pages are authored using proper XHTML 1.1 and validate as such, except for the following:
    • Directions To Our Facility. This page uses an iframe to display an interactive map. Iframes are not supported under the XHTML 1.1 specification.

You can test our pages for both Section 508 and WCAG 1.0 compliance at the Cynthia Says portal. You can test our pages for XHTML compliance by using the online W3C Markup Validation Service.