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Problems viewing this site? The CIPFA website has been written in Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) which are specifically written to be adaptable for the latest technologies. The World Wide Web Consortium (W3C), who specifically develop interoperable technologies (specifications, guidelines, software and tools), issue guidelines and protocols for meeting web standards for coding that also are being met by the producers of browsers - the latest Netscape, IE, Firefox and Opera are all 'W3C web standards compliant'. The CIPFA website is therefore best viewed in Internet Explorer Version 6 or above which can be downloaded free of charge from the Microsoft website or Netscape 7 or above, which can be downloaded free of charge from the Netscape website. It is also viewable in Safari and Firefox browsers. |
The CIPFA website conforms in part to the latest coding practices, using World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) valid HTML & Cascading Style Sheets (CSS). There are many reasons for this, but the most relevant to our users are:
- to create equal opportunities for people with disabilities, such as poor vision, and to provide benefits to those not fluent in English or with low bandwidth connections and new and infrequent website users. It is considered a social responsibility within educational settings to cater for students, faculty or staff with disabilities. The site is written using CSS which enables the user to manipulate the site to their own requirements, such as providing useful alt tags if images are switched off, allowing the resizing of text, ensuring that without the mouse the user is still able to tab through the navigation, making the site more understandable and meaningful if read through a text or voice browser and many other issues.
- to address issues of interoperability and ensure that the website displays correctly in browsers that conform to web standards, and to prepare for the deployment to advanced web technologies in the future, such as internet-enabled mobile phones and Personal Digital Assistants (PDAs).
- increased accessibility is important to students with different learning styles, older computer equipment, or low bandwidth Internet connections.
- to conform to legal requirements from Government and other organisations in terms of law, policy, standards and guidelines.
- it is in CIPFA's interests to ensure that our materials are available to all of our potential audiences.