Setting up your browser

All our suggestions to improve the accessibility of web pages will apply to every site you visit. Please note that they won't affect images on the screen.

Microsoft Internet Explorer - To apply permanently the font and colour changes below:

• On the View/Tools menu, click 'Internet Options'
• On the General tab, select 'Accessibility'
• Click the three boxes to show ticks

Changing the font

Using a sans serif font (such as Arial), rather than a serif font (such as Times New Roman) can make text easier to read.

• On the View/Tools menu, click 'Internet Options'
• On the General tab, select 'Fonts'
• In the Proportional and Fixed-width font lists, select the fonts you would like to use

Displaying text larger or smaller

• On the View/Tools menu, click 'Internet Options'
• On the General tab, select 'Fonts'
• Select the font size you would like

Changing text and background colour

Website authors and designers often specify particular fonts, typefaces and background colours for their pages, and the combinations can sometimes make the text difficult to read. You can override these settings by choosing your own preferred, clearer colour scheme - black text on a yellow background gives the most contrast:

• On the View/Tools menu, click 'Internet Options'
• On the General tab, select 'Colors'
• Click on the tick box labelled 'Use Windows Colors'
• Click Text, and select the colour you want.
• Click 'OK', click 'Background', and select the colour you want to use. Click 'OK'

To close images on web pages

• On the View/Tools menu, click 'Internet Options'
• On the Advanced tab, scroll down to Multimedia
• Click on 'Show pictures' to remove the tick
• Click on 'Apply', and then click on 'OK'

To change the size of the window

• On Full Screen on the toolbar

Other Options

There are more options to make websites easier to read, such as removing animation and expanding text. To look at the other options

• On the View/Tools menu, click 'Internet Options'
• On the Advanced tab
• Choose the options you like

Netscape Navigator 4.x

To change the settings on your browser go to the Edit menu, and click on 'Preferences'. From here you can make the following changes:

Changing the font

• Click on 'Appearance'
• Click 'Font '
• Change the Variable Width Font and the Fixed Width Font to the type you prefer. (To use these fonts when you visit all websites in future, click on 'Use my default fonts' overriding document specified fonts)

Changing the colour of the text and the background

• Click on 'Appearance'
• Click 'Colours'
• Select Text, and choose the colour you would like to use
• Click 'OK'
• Select Background, and choose a colour
• Click 'OK'
• Click 'OK' to close Preferences (To use these settings in future, click on 'Always use my colours', overriding document)

To close images on web pages

• Click on 'Edit'
• Click 'Preferences'
• Select Advanced
• Remove the tick from the box marked Automatically load images
• Click 'OK'