Website Accessibility

The Arc Poetry Society is committed to ensuring as many people as possible can use the Arc Poetry website. We have developed this site to be flexible and work for different users and different needs.

Please get in touch if with Arc at arc@arcpoetry.ca if you have ideas for further improving the accessibility of our site or magazine, or if you have any other questions. We’d be happy to hear from you.

Accessibility Options on the Arc Poetry Website

On the Arc Poetry website, users can choose what the webpage looks like by clicking the floating Accessibility icon which is located in the bottom left (or right) corner of your screen.

It looks a simplified symbol of a person standing inside a circle:

Clicking on this icon will bring up a floating panel with our Accessibility options:

Clicking this will enlarge the size of regular text on the website. It does not work on headers or titles.

Clicking this will shrink the size of regular text on the website. It does not work on headers or titles.

Clicking this will replace all colour on the website with black, white or grey.

Clicking this will make the page background black and will make text white or other light colours that are contrasting highly with the black background. Some images may not be visible.

Clicking this will make the page background black and will make text yellow or white. Some images may not be visible.

Clicking this will add an underline to all links, making them easier to identify.

Clicking this will make all options on the floating panel reset, returning the website to the default view.

More Options for Accessibility

The coming section will explore some additional ideas for making the Arc Poetry website work for you, as well as links to get more detailed information on programs and devices. These are some of the most common adjustments that you can make to improve your experience, depending on what changes make things easier for you.

There are a number of programs available that will enable your computer to talk to you.

Microsoft Windows comes with a basic screen reader called Narrator, which reads text on the screen aloud and describes some events that may happen while you’re using the computer (such as an error message appearing). You can find more information on how to use Narrator on the Microsoft website

For Mac users, the Mac operating system also has a built in speech to text function, which you can access by going to ‘System Preferences’ and selecting ‘Universal Access’.

There are also a number of Screen Reader programs out there that have more features, such as being able to read whole documents. Surface Impression, Arc’s partner in creating the Arc Poetry website, has found that some of the most popular Screen Readers are:

All recent versions of Microsoft Windows include magnification software. This software allows you to ‘zoom in’ and greatly increase the text size, in one small proportion of the screen. To use Windows magnifier, click on ‘Start’ then select ‘Programs’ followed by ‘Accessories’ and ‘Magnifier’. You can then select the amount of magnification you want using the dialog box that will appear on screen.

For Mac users, you can select the screen magnifier option by going to ‘System Preferences’ and selecting ‘Universal Access’.

You can increase the size of the mouse pointer on your screen. In Microsoft Windows you do this by clicking on ‘Start’ then selecting ‘Control Panel’ followed by ‘Hardware and Sound’ and ‘Devices and Printers’. You can then click on ‘Mouse’ followed by ‘Mouse Pointer Options’ and select any changes you want.

For Mac users, click on ‘System Preferences’ and select ‘Universal Access’ followed by ‘Mouse & Trackpad’. You can then make the mouse pointer bigger by sliding the Cursor Size bar.

Some people find that it is easier to use a mouse at a slower speed. In Microsoft Windows, you can change this setting in the same way as you change the size of your mouse pointer. From the ‘Mouse Pointer Options’ menu just slide the ‘Select a pointer speed’ bar to slow or speed up the mouse.

For Mac users, from the ‘Mouse & Trackpad’ menu you can use the ‘Tracking Speed’ slider bar to change the mouse speed.

For people who can’t use a mouse or trackpad, it is possible to navigate around a computer screen using different keystrokes on the keyboard.

There is further information on keyboard shortcuts on the Microsoft Windows website. You can also find information on using the keyboard with different web browsers and other programmes in this RNIB guide.

For more detailed guidance on how to increase accessibility and change how your device or web browser works, Arc and our partners recommend the following websites:

Windows

For information about accessibility options using a Windows PC see Windows Accessibility features

Apple

For information about accessibility options using an Apple PC see Apple accessibility for OSX

iPhone or iPad

For information about accessibility options using an iPhone see Apple accessibility for ios

Android device

For information about accessibility options using an Android device see the Android accessibility help centre