Most browsers and screens can be adjusted to help you view websites more clearly and this can be done by altering the size, format and colours of fonts and disabling images.

If you are experiencing problems with our font size, you can change your settings according to the following instructions:

• Internet Explorer Settings
• Firefox Settings
• Netscape Settings
• Opera Settings 
• Safari for the Mac Settings

Internet Explorer

To increase the text size:

1. Go to the 'Tools' menu at the top of your browser
2. Open this menu and select 'Internet options'
3. Choose the 'Accessibility...' button towards the bottom of the panel
4. Tick 'Ignore font sizes specified on Web pages'
5. Click 'OK' to close this panel, and 'OK' to close the 'Internet options' panel
6. If the text size is still too small (or large), go to the 'View' menu at the top of your browser
7. Open this menu and go down to 'Text size'
8. Choose which text size you would like.

To change the link colours (and remove background colour):

1. Go to the 'Tools' menu at the top of your browser
2. Open this menu and select 'Internet options'
3. Choose the 'Accessibility...' button towards the bottom of the panel
4. Tick 'Ignore colors specified on Web pages'
5. Click 'OK' to close this panel and 'OK' to close the 'Internet options' panel

To avoid downloading images:

1. Go to the 'Tools' menu at the top of your browser.
2. Open this menu and select 'Internet options'
3. Choose the 'Advanced' tab at the top of the panel
4. Scroll down to the 'Multimedia' heading
5. Deselect the 'Show pictures' option
6. Click 'OK' to close the panel
7. (Browser website: http://www.microsoft.com/windows/ie/default.mspx )

Firefox

To increase the text size:

1. Go to the 'Tools' menu at the top of your browser
2. Open this menu and select 'Options'
3. Choose the 'Fonts & colors...' button on the right
4. Choose the font size you want from the 'Minimum font size' menu
5. Click 'OK' to close this panel, and 'OK' to close the 'Options' panel

To change the link colours (and background colours):

1. Go to the 'Tools' menu at the top of your browser
2. Open this menu and select 'Options'
3. Choose the 'Fonts & colors...' button on the right
4. Set the background and link colours at the bottom of the panel
5. Select the 'Colors' box after 'Always use my:'
6. Click 'OK' to close this panel and 'OK' to close the 'Options' panel

To avoid downloading images:

1. Go to the 'Tools' menu at the top of your browser.
2. Open this menu and select 'Internet options'
3. Choose the 'Advanced' tab at the top of the panel
4. Scroll down to the 'Multimedia' heading
5. Deselect the 'Show pictures' option
6. Click 'OK' to close the panel

(Browser website: http://www.mozilla.org/products/firefox/ )

Netscape

(Note: for Netscape 8 follow the procedure for Firefox above.)

To increase the text size:

1. Go to the 'Edit' menu at the top of your browser
2. Open this menu and select 'Preferences...'
3. Open the 'Appearance' options on the left (by clicking on the triangle next to 'Appearance')
4. Select the 'Fonts' option
5. Choose a 'Minimum font size' from the drop-down menu on the right of the panel
6. Click 'OK' to close the 'Preferences' panel

To change the link colours (and background colours):

1. Go to the 'Edit' menu at the top of your browser
2. Open this menu and select 'Preferences...'
3. Open the 'Appearance' options on the left (by clicking on the triangle next to 'Appearance')
4. Select the 'Colors' option
5. Select the option 'Use my chosen colors, ignoring the colors and background image specified'
6. Click 'OK' to close the 'Preferences' panel

To avoid downloading images:

1. Go to the 'Edit' menu at the top of your browser
2. Open this menu and select 'Preferences...'
3. Open the 'Privacy and Security' options on the left (by clicking on the triangle next to 'Privacy and Security')
4. Choose the 'Images' option
5. Select 'Do not load any images' under the 'Image acceptance policy' on the right of the panel
6. Click 'OK' to close the 'Preferences' panel

(Browser website: http://browser.netscape.com/ns8/ )

Opera

(Note: these notes apply to Opera 8 only, which you can download from the link at the end of this section.)

To increase the text size:

1. Go to the 'Tools' menu at the top of your browser
2. Open this menu and select 'Preferences'
3. Click the 'Advanced' tab
4. Choose 'Fonts' in the left panel
5. Fill in the font size you want from 'Minimum font size (pixels)'
6. Click 'OK'

To change the link colours (and background colours):

1. Go to the 'View' menu at the top of your browser
2. Open this menu and select 'User mode'
3. Once you have selected this, you can choose more settings in the same menu to tweak the appearance e.g. 'High contrast W/B'

To avoid downloading images:

1. Go to the 'View' menu at the top of your browser
2. Open this menu and select 'Images' and then 'No images'

(Browser website: http://www.opera.com/ )

Safari (for Macs)

To increase the text size:

1. Open the 'View' menu at the top of your browser
2. Select 'Make text bigger' or 'Make text smaller'

To change the link colours (and background colours):

1. You need to create your own style sheet to use with web pages
2. Then go to the 'Safari' menu at the top of your browser
3. Select 'Preferences' and then 'Advanced'
4. In the 'Style sheet' drop down menu select 'Other'
5. Using the 'File Open' box, go to your personal style sheet
6. Select your style sheet and click 'Choose'

To avoid downloading images:

1. Go to the 'Safari' menu at the top of your browser and select 'Appearance'
2. Uncheck 'Display images'