Website accessibility

Making our online content accessible

We're working to make our online presence more accessible to everyone, including people who use assistive technologies.

We regularly review our website to identify and address issues that might cause difficulty for people with visual, auditory, motor or cognitive differences and disabilities. We also work to ensure our content is available to people with slower internet speeds or who use a mobile device.

Our aim is to meet or exceed the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 2.1 level AA. Our website is built using a platform that adheres to these accessibility guidelines. There may be some content on our site, or sections developed by third parties, that are not fully compliant with our accessibility standards.

Some of the WCAG 2.1 features are still being implemented on this site. If you have difficulty or wish to offer suggestions about how we can improve our website accessibility, please contact us at info@whittlesea.vic.gov.au or call 03 9217 2170.

Standards compliance and guidelines

We have designed this website with usability and accessibility best practices in mind. We aim to meet or exceed level AA of the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.1

Find more information and WCAG and a compliance level checklist 

Social media accounts

We aim to create content for our social media accounts that meets WCAG requirements.

But we can't guarantee the accessibility of user-generated content on our social media accounts, such as images or video uploaded by community members without accessible text captions or transcripts.

Adobe PDFs and non-HTML documents

Some documents on this site are not available as webpages. This is particularly the case for many of our forms and maps. Instead they are published in non-HTML formats such as Adobe PDF and Microsoft Word. We understand these documents may not be accessible to everyone, particularly screen reader users.

We provide an accessible summary of all non-HTML documents, including the type and size of the file. This allows you to decide whether the document will be useful to you. You will also find contact details so you can request the document in another format.

If you're using a screen reader, we recommend you avoid downloading our document forms and call us instead on 03 9217 2170

Using PDF documents

Why we provide documents in PDF format

We know PDFs are not the most accessible format but sometimes a PDF format is necessary. In this case, we aim to make an accessible version of the document available.

We prioritise accessible content creation based on criteria including:

  • content size
  • specialist nature of the audience for the content
  • how time-consuming or technically difficult it is to create accessible versions
  • the likely lifespan of the content.

To view or print PDF documents, you will need to have Adobe Acrobat software installed.

Download it free from Adobe

If you are unable to access a PDF document, please contact our Customer Service department on 03 9217 2170.

Creating accessible Word documents

Consultants who provide us with documents to be published online must follow these instructions to ensure the document is accessible to people with a disability.

Download instructions for creating accessible Word documents(DOCX, 2MB)

Adapting content for your needs 

How to change text size

Most fonts on this website use relative font sizing rather than fixed font sizing. This allows you to increase the text size within your browser to make reading pages easier. Details on how to increase the font size for Internet Explorer, Firefox and Google Chrome are below. You will need to have your menu bar visible to follow these instructions.

How to access your Menu Bar (Internet Explorer and Firefox)

  1. Place your cursor above the website address at the very top of the page and right click.
  2. Tick Menu Bar box.

Changing the font size on Internet Explorer 7 and above

  1. Select 'View' from the menu bar top left hand corner of your browser window.
  2. Select 'text size'.
  3. Select your preferred size (largest, larger, medium, small, smallest).
  4. The new font size will be applied to the Frankston City Council site.

Changing the font size on Firefox

  1. Select 'Tools' from the menu bar top left hand corner of your browser window.
  2. Click on 'Options'.
  3. Click on the 'Content' tab.
  4. Change the font to your preferred size and click 'OK'.

Changing the font size on Google Chrome

  1. Click on the three dots in the menu on the right hand corner of your browser window.
  2. Click on the + symbol in Zoom to increase font size.

How to change colour contrast

To improve your internet experience you can select a personalised colour contrast by following the steps below, depending on your chosen browser.

Instructions to change colour contrast

Windows

Click Start, then Control Panel. Select the Accessibility Options icon. Select the Display tab and select the Use High Contrast check box. Select the Settings button to browse different colour contrast options.

Internet Explorer

Click Tools, then select Internet options. Under the appearance heading, select the Colours button. Deselect the ‘Use Windows colours’ checkbox and change the colour by selecting the colour swatch. Select Accessibility within the Internet Options window and select ‘Ignore colours specified on web pages’.

Firefox

There are browser specific colour contrast options for Firefox.

How to remove images

Turning off images can improve internet speed and page loading. It can also be for your comfort or personal preference.

Instructions to remove images

Internet Explorer

 Click the Tools button, then select Internet Options. Click the Advanced tab, locate the Multimedia heading and deselect the ‘Show pictures’ checkbox.

Firefox

Click Tools, then select Web Developer. Select Images, then ‘Disable images’ and click ‘All images’.

Google Chrome

 Click the Customise button (spanner icon), then select Options. Select the ‘Under the Hood’ tab, then content settings. Within the content settings screen, select Image and then select the ‘Do not show any images radio’ button.

We add text descriptions and/or tags to each meaningful image on this website. This is to assist people using screen readers and visitors who browse the internet with images turned off.

Accessibility features 

We have applied accessibility features across our website.

Navigation

  • A ‘Skip to content’ link is at the top of each page. This enable users with screen readers to bypass navigation and go directly to the content area of the page.
  • A text-only site map provides links to all the main areas and sub-areas of the site in a more accessible format. Find the sitemap at the bottom of the page or in the skiplink for screen readers.
  • All navigation functions without JavaScript. The JavaScript only enhances the experience for users who have JavaScript turned on.

Links

  • Almost all links are text-based.
  • If an image contains a link, it will be placed directly next to a text-based version of the same link. Where possible techniques are used to keep the text within the code so they are still text-friendly for screen readers, text-based browsers and for people who browse with styles off. This includes mobile devices that may not render cascading style sheets.
  • All link rollovers are high-contrast so they are easily distinguished from regular text and headlines that are not clickable.
  • Link content text is contextual when possible to describe the link’s purpose and to make navigation easier for screen readers and more usable for all website visitors. 

Online forms

  • Our online forms use the label tag. The label associates a piece of text with a form field to assist screen readers. Also, if text within a label is clicked, the associated form field is brought into focus to increase usability.
  • Form validation. If a form is submitted incorrectly, the error message returned informs the user of missing information clearly and logically, without requiring JavaScript.

Printing options

Most content pages on our website are optimised for printing offline and are designed for hard copy and readability.

The navigation menus and other design elements will be removed, the text will wrap to the page margins and the font becomes print-ready.

To print a page from this website, type CTRL+P, right clicking with your mouse and selecting print, or accessing print from your browsers settings menu.

Older internet browsers 

While we do our best to support users with older internet browsers, some of our online resources are enhanced by modern, standards-compliant browsers that have both JavaScript and cookies enabled.

There are now several great browsers to choose from apart from Internet Explorer and Netscape Navigator. Many of these new browsers are designed to run on older PCs or Macs.

Running modern, standards-compliant browsers allows you to access resources, materials and the World Wide Web as it was originally intended.

Where possible, we develop support for web browsers according to W3C and WCAG.