Accessibility
Introduction
Shearman & Sterling LLP recognise the importance of providing a website that is inclusive and available for all user groups. This page explains:
- Our approach to making this website accessible, including what we have done and will do in the future
- The facilities that we have provided for different disability groups
- Guidance on how to use particular features
- What to do if you have any questions or feedback for us
Approach
The Shearman & Sterling LLP graduate website is being developed to support Internet users who have disabilities. We believe the web pages on the site are in line with RNIB’s ‘See it Right’ accessibility criteria, and meet all of the priority 1 and level 2 criteria of W3C’s Web Content Accessibility Guidelines. Any new information added to the site will be compliant with RNIB’s ‘See it Right’ accessibility criteria.
The more recent PDF documents used in this website have been made in a form in which they are accessible to screen readers and voice browsers. Some of the older documents are not in this format. However, Adobe has a service which enables PDF files to be converted into HTML or text files. You can access this service from the accessibility section of the Adobe website.
Screen reader / voice browser / screen magnifier users
Our navigation mechanisms are accessible by screen readers and voice browsers. In addition, skip links allow the user to by-pass the navigation to the main content and also go directly to the site tools.
Text equivalents of all images have been provided and the relevant page and table header tags inserted.
Alternative mechanisms have been provided where JavaScript is used within the site.
Partially sighted users – changing the font size
We have provided the facility to change the font size of the text used on our web pages. If you are using Internet Explorer, select ‘View’ from the menu bar, then ‘Text Size’ and select from ‘Smallest’ to ‘Largest’. In Netscape, select ‘View’ from the menu bar, then ‘Text Size’ and select from ‘Smaller’, ‘Larger’, % values or ‘Other’.
Colour-blind users
We have checked the site font and background colour combinations for the different colour-blindness conditions and ensured that items are not referenced by colour alone.
Should you wish to change the colour of text and background by introducing your own style sheet, please follow the instructions in changing the style sheet.
Keyboard-only users
The web pages on the site have been tested for use in keyboard-only operation. When using the forms or controls for the tools, the keys to use are as follows:
- To select from drop down boxes, use up and down arrow keys
- To select/unselect a check box, use the space bar
- To move forward between links, use the tab key
- To move back between links, use the Shift + tab keys
- To initiate an action button, use the Enter key when the action button is selected
Changing the style sheet
Users may import their own style sheet into the website. In Internet Explorer, select Tools, then Internet Options and then Accessibility. Next select any or all of three checkboxes to ignore colours, font styles or font sizes. In the same window, you can change the style sheet by selecting the checkbox that says ‘Format document using my style sheet’, then simply browse to your preferred style sheet and select OK. In Netscape, select Edit, then Preferences and then Appearance. You will then be given a choice of colours and fonts.
Standards compliance
We have aimed to conform to Level AA compliance as specified by the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines. As a part of the functionality of our search engine we currently employ a proprietary tag in order to provide more useful search results; while this is rightly flagged as non-compliant XHTML, its use greatly increases usability of the search engine and should be the only compromise to XHTML validation on the site.
