Website Accessibility

This accessibility statement explains what we are doing to address the accessibility of our websites and how to contact us about web accessibility.

This statement below applies to the afnms.org website for which the Board of Trustees of National Museums Scotland is responsible.

What you'll find in this statement:

We want as many people as possible to be able to use our websites. We’ve designed them so that you can:

Change colours, contrast levels and fonts via browser or plug in
Zoom in up to 300% without the text spilling off the screen
Navigate most of the website using just a keyboard
Navigate most of the website using speech recognition software
Listen to most of the website using a screen reader (including the most recent versions of JAWS, NVDA and VoiceOver).

We’ve also made the website text as simple as possible to understand. AbilityNet has advice on making your device easier to use if you have a disability.

In Internet Explorer, use the Zoom option in the Settings menu.
In Firefox, press the Alt key to temporarily bring up the traditional Firefox menus. On the menu at the top, click View, then go to Zoom.
In Chrome, use the Zoom option in the Settings menu.
In Safari, use the View > Make Text Bigger option.
In Opera, use the Zoom selector.

If you use a wheel-mouse, you may be able to change the text size by holding down the Control or Command key and turning the wheel. In some browsers you can change the text size using Control or Command and the + and - keys. In certain browsers, these functions may ‘zoom’ the entire site rather than just the text.

PDFs

For information on PDF files and accessibility visit access.adobe.com.

Browsers

Below you will find links to various browsers to help you tailor your current browser to your needs, access alternative browsers or download add-ons:

Internet Explorer
Information on how to change browser settings in Microsoft's IE browsers.
Microsoft Edge
Information on how to change browser settings in Edge.
Mozilla
Information on how to change browser settings in Mozilla browsers, including Firefox.
Google Chrome and Android
Information about accessibility covering a range of Google products, including Android phones.
Apple
Information about accessibility options on Apple products, including Safari and iPhone.
Blackberry
Information on accessibility settings on Blackberry phones.
Opera
Information provided by Opera on how to change browser settings.
Amazon Silk
Accessibility information for Amazon's Silk browser.
JAWS screen reader
Download a free trial copy of the screen reader Jaws.
MAGic screen magnification
Information on screen magnification software.

Areas of ongoing improvement

We are working to improve the accessibility of our websites, but we know that some areas are not yet fully accessible. In particular, we know that you may encounter:

Older PDF and Microsoft Office documents that are not properly formatted to be accessible
Images with missing or unhelpful alternative text
Videos without closed captions or transcripts
HTML and ARIA markup errors that may make using a screen reader difficult.

Feedback and contact information

If you need information on this website in a different format like accessible PDF, large print, easy read, audio recording or braille, or you would like to ask anything or tell us anything about the accessibility of our websites:

Email: info@nms.ac.uk
Telephone: +44 (0) 300 123 6789

We’ll consider your request and get back to you in no more than 5 working days in line with our standards of service.

How to report accessibility problems with this website

We’re always looking to improve the accessibility of this website. If you find any problems not listed on this page or think we’re not meeting accessibility requirements, please contact the Digital Media Team via email at webmaster@nms.ac.uk

Enforcement procedure

In the UK, 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, you can contact the Equality Advisory and Support Service (EASS).

Technical information about this website’s accessibility

National Museums Scotland is committed to making its website accessible, in accordance with the UK Public Sector Bodies (Websites and Mobile Applications) (No. 2) Accessibility Regulations 2018.

Compliance status

In this section, you will find more detailed information about the accessibility of our websites and their conformity to Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.1 level AA.

This website is partially compliant with the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines version 2.1 level AA, due to the non-compliances and exemptions listed below.

In May 2021 we carried out an accessibility audit of our websites which identified some accessibility issues. We have begun an ongoing programme of work which to date has focused on improvements to:

HTML structure
HTML labelling
Link labelling
Link text (making generic links distinctive and/or unique).

The issues detailed above are not an exhaustive list. Instead, they are an attempt to summarise the main areas of concern.

There are no plans to update all historic content but where possible, and on request, we may be able to provide information in alternative formats.

Non-compliance with the accessibility regulations

The content listed below is non-accessible for the following reasons:

Some images do not have a text alternative, so people using a screen reader cannot access the information. This fails WCAG 2.1 success criterion 1.1.1 (non-text content).
We plan to retrospectively add text alternatives (Alt tags) for images on our most popular web pages by April 2022 (accounting for >30% of all web traffic). When we publish new content we’ll make sure our use of images meets accessibility standards.
Some of our older PDFs and Word documents do not meet accessibility standards – for example, they may not be structured so they are accessible to a screen reader. This doesn't meet WCAG 2.1 success criterion 4.1.2 (name, role value).

Content that’s not within the scope of the accessibility regulations

Some of our PDFs and Word documents are essential to providing our services. For example, we have PDFs with information on how users can access our services, and forms published as Word documents.

The accessibility regulations don't require us to fix PDFs or other documents published before 23 September 2018 if they're not essential to providing our services.

Any new PDFs or Word documents we publish will meet accessibility standards.

What we’re doing to improve accessibility

National Museums Scotland operates websites that were developed at different times using different technologies. We are committed to improving the accessibility of our websites so that they are accessible to all. We are working hard to achieve that, but it will take some time due to the scale and complexity of the task.

Actions being undertaken:

Rolling out accessibility guidance and training to staff who create web content
Raising general accessibility awareness across the organisation
Investigating how we can fix our PDF and Microsoft Office documents
Updating our procurement policies and contracts for new website developments
Writing new guidelines for external developers.

How we test accessibility

We use automated tools to scan our existing websites once a year.  New website developments are manually tested by specialist agencies.

Preparation of this accessibility statement

This statement was published on 21 September 2021.