Access all areas with new website browsing, reading and translating tool

Keeping University of Northampton’s (UON) ‘window on the world’ as clear as possible moves up a level with the introduction of a new website accessibility tool.

Part of the University’s new strategy is to commit to building and maintaining an inclusive and supportive learning and working environment; now, visitors to the UON website can access a range of tools to enhance their browsing experience.

The assistive technology is provided by Recite Me and means website users can create a bespoke, user-friendly browsing visit to suit their individual needs.

The accessibility options – which can be found by clicking the person icon, top right corner of any UON website page – can be used in conjunction with tools users already use, or on their own to help people who may have undiagnosed conditions, for instance, if they are neurodiverse.

The options cover 65 text-to-speech and styling options to create a bespoke viewing experience, including:

• Colours: There are 10 options for lighter and 10 for darker backgrounds.
• Concentration: Website users can stay focussed using a ruler to read text line by line.
• Font: Text can be made larger, or smaller and can be switched to any of 10 font types. There’s also a magnifying glass option.
• Languages: From Albanian to Yiddish, UON’s website text can be translated into 100 different dialects.
  Screen Reader: This can be set to speak aloud for any of the above languages.

Offering an inclusive experience is essential to support over 20% of the population who may encounter barriers when exploring our website due to having a disability, learning difficulty, visual impairment or if they speak English as a second language.

Nadine Shambrook from the University’s Digital Development Team says: “We live and work in a digital world where accessibility is just as important as in the physical world.

“At University of Northampton we are proud that as many people as possible can access our digital platforms in a comfortable and user-friendly way and are pleased to add Recite Me’s innovative assistive technology across our website.”