Accessibility
This statement applies to the Department of Physics’ primary website at www.physics.ox.ac.uk
The Department of Physics at the University of Oxford is committed to providing an accessible web presence that gives members of the public and members of the University community full access to University information, courses and activities offered publicly through the web. The University of Oxford’s Equality Policy outlines our commitment to a culture which ‘maintains a working, learning and social environment in which the rights and dignity of all its staff and students are respected’.
Our aims
We are currently in the process of building a brand new website for the Department of Physics which will go live early 2021. In order to ensure that all of our visitors can continue to use our current website, we have taken measures to improve the accessibility of our pages. This includes elements such as:
- Alt text for images and providing non-visual alternatives where appropriate
- The website can be used with a screen reader
- Content is structured, ordered and labelled appropriately
Making changes to your device/system
AbilityNet has advice on making your devices easier to use if you have a disability. In addition, major operating systems produce the following guidance:
How accessible this website is
We are working on a brand new website which will go live early 2021 so we are aware that parts of our current website are not fully accessible. These include:
- Some older PDF documents aren’t fully accessible to screen reader software
- Some form inputs don’t magnify or zoom appropriately
- Not all audio on videos is captioned and some multimedia content doesn’t yet have audio or text description
- Some of our content is difficult to navigate using just a keyboard
- Our website was built to display on different screen sizes however it is not fully responsive
Feedback and alternative formats
If you need information on this website in a different format like accessible PDF, large print, easy read, audio recording or Braille:
Email: contact@physics.ox.ac.uk
Call +44 (0) 1865 272200
We will acknowledge your request and respond outlining our course of action.
The Accessible Resources Acquisition and Creation Unit (ARACU), who are part of the Bodleian Libraries, offer alternative formats for some of the content on this website for students referred by the Disability Advisory Services. They produce materials in electronic text (RTF document fully structured and with XML tags for navigation) and DAISY 2.02 human voice audio. Both products can be sent out physically (DVD) or via file transfer. They can also produce Braille documents. Please contact aracu@bodleian.ox.ac.uk to discuss your requirements.
You can also use the free SensusAccess tool on the Bodleian website to convert certain types of files into a more accessible format.
Reporting accessibility problems with this website
If you have any questions or concerns about this statement or the accessibility of any of our webpages, please email contact@physics.ox.ac.uk.
Enforcement procedure
The Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) is responsible for enforcing the Public Sector Bodies (Websites and Mobile Applications) (No. 2) Accessibility Regulations 2018 (the ‘accessibility regulations’). If you’re not happy with how we respond to your complaint, contact the Equality Advisory and Support Service (EASS).
Other accessibility resources
If you would like more information about accessibility and resources for students, staff and visitors in Oxford more generally, please visit the University of Oxford’s Equality and Diversity pages.
If you are looking for information on building accessibility, please try the University of Oxford's Access Guide or the University of Oxford’s interactive map.
Technical information about this website’s accessibility
The Department of Physics is committed to making its website accessible, in accordance with the Public Sector Bodies (Websites and Mobile Applications) (No. 2) Accessibility Regulations 2018. The Department of Physics website (see ‘How we tested this website’) is partially compliant with the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines version 2.1 AA standard, due to the non-compliances listed on our known issues page.
Disproportionate burden
As we are in the process of building a brand new website that will go live in 2021, we have focused on improving the accessibility on the most visited pages of our current website. We will respond as quickly as we can to any ad-hoc accessibility requests in the lead-up to our new website going live; please email contact@physics.ox.ac.uk with requests for accessible content.
What we are doing to improve accessibility
We want our website to offer the best experience possible for all of our users and this commitment underpins the development of our new website which will go live in 2021. We are working on fixing known issues on our current website and aim to respond promptly and effectively to ad-hoc requests for accessible content.
Preparation of this accessibility statement
This statement was prepared on 23 September 2020. It was last reviewed on 23 September 2020.
How we tested this website
This website was last tested in September 2020. The test was carried out internally, using WAVE an online web accessibility evaluation tool. We tested our key landing pages and most visited website pages at www.physics.ox.ac.uk
