Accessibility statement

This statement relates specifically to our University of Southampton Online website.  

Policies and standards 

The University of Southampton is committed to making its website accessible, in accordance with the Public Sector Bodies (Websites and Mobile Applications) (No. 2) Accessibility Regulations 2018. As such, we are partially compliant with the W3C Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.2 AA standard.

This means that all content on online.southampton.ac.uk should be: 

• navigable using only a keyboard

• meeting relevant contrast and colour recommendations 

• compatible with text-to-speech and speech-to-input software

• marked up using appropriate metadata and alt attributes

• able to zoom up to 300% without text spilling out of view

W3C summarise the various different technical requirements of an accessible website under four distinct categories: 

• perceivable: how content is displayed and accessed

• operable: how users interact with our site

• understandable: the language we use and the consistency of user interactions

• robust: the compatibility of our site with a range of accessibility tools and formats

Which parts of the site do not yet meet AA compliance? 

We are actively working to ensure that all our web content meets the WCAG 2.2 AA standard. At this time, we are focusing our efforts on the main online.southampton.ac.uk site. As such, sub-domains, apps and microsites may not offer the same level of accessibility compliance as the main website.  

On this site, there is some content which may not be fully accessible of content that may not be fully accessible: 

• a small number of PDFs may not fully meet accessibility specifications. These are typically PDFs that we must host, but which are produced by a third-party organisation. 
• a small number of images may not include an appropriate alt attribute (WCAG 2 1.1.1). 
• there may be small parts of the site that are not completely accessible using only a keyboard (WCAG 2.1.3). We aim to find and resolve these issues before the end of January 2025, and will continue to monitor for issues during periodic reviews of the site.
• when navigating the site using a screen reader, there may be some elements that announce their content more than once, announce superfluous content, or skip some elements entirely (WCAG 2.4). We are working to improve the experience for screen reader users, and aim to make improvements before the end of January 2025.

We are continuing work to make the above content fully accessible. If you aren't able to access content online.southampton.ac.uk or a related site, we can help. Please contact us on contentmarketing@cambridgeonlinelearning.com.  

We will provide you with alternate format content, answer your query directly, or point you in the direction of someone who can. By reporting non-accessible content to us, you are also helping to improve the experience for future users of our sites – thank you. 

How we test this site 

We tested this website prior to launching in January 2025. The team at CEG Digital carried out the tests using a range of accessibility tools and browser extensions. Documents are tested using relevant Microsoft and Adobe software. We tested at least one page from every section of the website, along with the front page. This statement was first published on 3rd January 2025. 

Regular testing will continue with upgrades periodically thought the year and the statement will be updated to reflect the new test and changes.