Rot3K Graphics and Web – Site Accessibility
This site includes features that were made in the name of convenience, entertainment, and accessibility; some of which may be new to you. Here I explain how to use them and offer tips on improving Internet accessibility in general. If you like larger text, obvious links, or have other thoughts, read on.
- About the Themes: Read First
- Poor Vision and High-resolution: Larger Font Sizes
- Colorblind, Link Underlines, and other Visual Issues
- Site Functionality: Access Difficulties
Make a selection from the menu above to jump to a specific problem/solution. To better enjoy this site, I suggest reading all the contents of this page in order.
About the Themes
To make this site more accessible for people with specific needs or preferences, multiple style sheets have been constructed (each with different link display options, colors, backgrounds, etc.) and an interface has been provided for switching between them.
Our content is available over any Internet-browsing device (including palm pilots, cell phones, and television browsers), but people using modern CSS and DOM compliant browsers will have access to additional options. If you are using an older browser (you will see a warning at the top of this page), and would like to benefit from these features, you must upgrade your browser.
To change themes (style sheets) click on the “Style Sheet” option on the menu, this displays a list of available themes. If nothing happens when you click on this option, upgrade to a standards-compliant browser (or in the case of Opera, Omniweb, and iCab users, switch to one that better meets DOM standards, like Mozilla, or Internet Explorer 6). Each time you click on an option our site layout will change. Find one you like best. If something doesn’t look right, refresh your browser (some themes may need to be refreshed once to work due to browser limitations). Your browser will remember your selection when you visit other pages. For this to work JavaScript must be enabled (it is by default), and you must accept the rot3k.com cookies (something else your browser does by default).
The two themes at the bottom, “Accessible (Sans)” and “Accessible (Serif)” are both designed to be friendlier to the user. They download faster, information is not color-dependant, and most importantly of all, the default text sizes will be adjusted to meet the preferences of Internet Explorer users (View —> Text Size —> Make Selection) – these options are also available in Netscape/Mozilla.
If your needs are specific, or you would like more information, read the sections below or click here to learn more about the style sheets and compatibility.
Poor Vision or High Resolution Monitors
If you have poor vision or use a resolution that makes the default theme text hard to read, you are in the right section. I will explain how you can use our themes and browser options to increase text sizes here, and I will even give you accessibility tips for other sites on the Internet.
If you are using Microsoft Internet Explorer 5.0.x or lower, first upgrade to Microsoft Internet Exploder 6.x (to avoid some CSS issues). In this browser you can make text larger or smaller than defaults would normally display (View —> Text Size —> Make Selection). If you want larger text choose “Larger” or “Largest” from this menu. Internet Explorer remembers your selection.
Text Zoom in Windows Internet Explorer 6.0
There is, unfortunately, one problem. If font sizes on a Web page are defined using pixels (the dots on your screen) instead of other units like ems or percentages, this feature will not work and the text will not resize. There is normally no workaround for this (other that waiting for Microsoft to upgrade).
Using our page themes, however, we have solved the problem for you (at least on this Web site). Click on the “Style Sheet” option in the menu, and choose “Accessible (Sans)” or “Accessible (Serif)” (go with whatever one you like best). Because in these themes font sizes for the main viewing area are not defined in pixels, your font size preference will work properly. Problem solved.
You might wonder if there is universal solution, something that can be applied to all Web pages. Who can blame you, squinting at your monitor is no fun, especially when reading long articles on the Internet. There is a solution, but it means dumping Internet Explorer as your primary browser (at least until they improve their font-zoom option). Don’t worry, if you know how to use Internet Explorer you will also know how to use other browsers, and you can keep them both around.
The alternate Web browser Mozilla has a similar font zoom option, but it works with every site on the Internet (as long as text isn’t displayed with images, like Apple’s home page). The same is true of Netscape 6/7, a browser based off Mozilla, but if you don’t use Netscape Mail or Netscape Composer, we suggest you stick with Mozilla (cleaner and more modern code, faster download, not bloatware).
From Mozilla.org download the latest stable build (avoid beta and alpha software, the download options are on the right-hand menu). You will be asked what to do with the download. Save it to your desktop (you may remove the installer after installation) then double-click on the installer to run it. After answering some installation questions Mozilla will be installed on your hard drive and you will ready. The text zoom feature is accessed in the same way (but is based off percentages instead of words) and works with all of our themes in addition to all text-based Web sites on the Internet.
Text Zoom in Mozilla (1+) and Netscape (6+) for Mac/Win.
Colorblind, Link Underlines, and other Visual Issues
If you have trouble discerning links from body text on this Web site click on the “Style Sheet” option in the menu and select “Accessible (Sans)” or “Accessible (Serif)”. In both of themes links are underlined. Also note that everything in the menu is a link, regardless of visual formatting.
Older browsers will not be able to access the “Style Sheet” option, but links should be underlined. The layout will be unformatted though, and less intuitive. We suggest you upgrade your browser to make use of modern Web standards. If not to view this site, do it because it will improve Internet accessibility and readability as a whole. The same goes for if you are using an odd browser like Opera, Omniweb, or iCab, for the time being they do not support all technologies used on this site, consider using Internet Explorer, Netscape 6/7, or Mozilla instead.
Are you tired of difficult-to-read links on other Web pages? There may be a solution, but it requires a little work on your part. If you are using a modern Web browser (if not, you can upgrade) check your browser preferences for an option like the one shown below.
The User Style Sheet option in Internet Explorer 5.2 Mac
Now open WordPad and create a document with the following text (you may
copy/paste from the browser window) and save it to your hard drive (in a place like your documents
folder) with a name like mystyles.css (make sure you include the ‘.css’
at the end). You may change color: blue; to something else if you feel it would
look better (replace ‘blue’ with a new color name, or enter a hexadecimal value
like #0000ff).
Click here to download the style sheet below in a .zip archive.
a { text-decoration: underline !important;
background: none !important; }
a:link { color: blue !important; }
a:visited { color: red !important; }
a:active { color: lime !important; }
/* Include if you want all backgrounds to be white and all text to be
black, overriding Web site defaults */
p, blockquote, ul, ol, h1, h2, h3, h4, h5, h6, pre,
div,b, i, strong, em, td, th, abbr, acronym, code {
color: black !important; background: white !important; }
* { background-image: none !important; }
Once you have prepared and saved the Style Sheet, activate the user style sheet option in your preferences, show the browser where the new CSS file is (using a preference button by the option), then hit “OK” to save changes.
Here is a snippet of what this page looks like with this style sheet active. As you can see, it can strip beauty from a page, but if readability and accessibility are your priorities this may be the perfect solution. Other sites on the Internet will be similar in appearance.
Rot3K: Graphics and Web – Stripped for Accessibility
Site Functionality: Access Difficulties
Rot3K: Graphics and Web Design was constructed and is maintained using modern Internet techniques that are, unfortunately, not supported by older browsers like Netscape 4.7.x and Internet Explorer 4.5.x. If you visit using one of these browsers, pages will be displayed without layout formatting. Despite this all content should remain accessible even in the oldest of browsers.
If you want to enjoy our layout, accessibility, navigation, and theme features, you will have to upgrade your browser to something modern like Internet Explorer 6.0, or the latest stable build of Mozilla.
While browsing this site if you come across accessibility issues that prevent you from reaching important content please report them at your convenience. The site will be updated to accommodate the access issue.
If you have encountered a problem in a specific style sheet (theme) please read our themes information page. In most instances, your question will be addressed there.
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