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:
- Home page
- Site Map
- Contact Us
- Main menu: Food, Water, and Cosmetics
- Main menu: Indoor Air Quality
- Main menu: Protein Analyzer Tubes
- Main menu: Custom Chemical Manufacturing
- Main menu: About Us
- Main Menu: Resources
- 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 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
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.