Optimise the way you view our website in your browser

The following suggestions to improve the visibility of web pages will apply to any site that you visit. However, you may find that not all pages within a site are compatible. The images on the screen will not be affected. These instructions have been tested with Internet Explorer versions 6 and 7.

To apply the font and colour changes below permanently:

  • on the ‘Tools’ menu, click ‘Internet Options’;;
  • on the ‘General’ tab, click on ‘Accessibility’;
  • click in each of the three boxes to show ticks;
  • click ‘OK’.

Text with an Arial font is easier to read than a Times New Roman font. To change the text font:

  • on the ‘Tools’ menu, click ‘Internet Options’;
  • on the ‘General’ tab, click ‘Fonts’;
  • in the ‘Web page font’ and ‘Plain text font’ lists, choose the fonts you would like to use;
  • click ‘OK’.

To enlarge the text:

  • on the ‘Browser’ menu click ‘View’;
  • click ‘Text size’;
  • choose the size of text.

Combinations of fonts, typefaces and background colours used in web page design may result in text being difficult to read. However, you can choose settings to suit you. For example white text on an orange background gives a distinct contrast. To change the text colour and background colour:

  • on the ‘Tools’ menu, click ‘Internet Options’;
  • on the ‘General’ tab, click ‘Colours’;
  • deselect the ‘Use Windows Colours’ tick box;
  • select the box next to ‘Text’ and choose a colour;
  • click ‘OK’;
  • select the box next to ‘Background’ and choose a colour;
  • click ‘OK’.

To prevent graphics from appearing on web pages:

  • under ‘Tools’, click ‘Internet Options’;
  • on the ‘Advanced’ tab, scroll down to the ‘Multimedia’ heading;
  • click on the graphics options (‘animations’, ‘videos’ and ‘pictures’) to remove the ticks;
  • click on ‘Apply’, and then click on ‘OK’;
  • if graphics still appear, select ‘View’ then ‘Refresh’ from the toolbar, or press F5.

To change the size of the window:

  • click ‘View’ then ‘Full Screen’ from the toolbar, or press F11′

There are other options to tailor web pages that help make them easier to read. These may be found under the ‘Tools’ menu:

  • click on ‘Internet Options’
  • select the ‘Advanced’ tab
  • choose from the options available to improve visibility.