Accessibility of Alexandrite Tsarstone Collectors Guide
Alexandrite Tsarstone Collectors Guide (Alexandrite Guide) recognises the importance of providing a website that is accessible to all our user groups, including those with disabilities.
Contents	
Accessibility themes
Accessibility features
Standards compliance
Internet Content Rating
Platform of Privacy Preferences
Plug-in applications
Cookies and session variables
Device support	
Our accessibility standards are in place with the intention of making the content accessible to the widest range of visitors, regardless of disability or impairment and by using techniques to help users of assistive and adaptive technologies we have provided multiple versions of the wbsite which everyone should be able to use.
It is our intention to provide as wide access as possible to this website. Should you experience any difficulties using the site we would very much like to hear about any such difficulties, so that we may take steps to rectify them.
Please contact us with details of the problem, the name and version of the browser you are using and, if possible, details of the operating system and screen settings you are using.
Accessibility themes
You can alter visual attributes of Alexandrite Guide website to suit your preferences by selecting a theme from the following options:
Switch to preferred accessibility theme
High contrast	Low graphics	Mobile version	Default theme	
				
If you have cookies enabled, these settings will be remembered each time you visit.
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Accessibility features
The following features improve navigation for screen reader users, keyboard navigation and users of text only browsers:
Access Keys
The pages on this website adhere to the recommended UK Government access keys standard and all pages on this website use the following “access keys” to provide keyboard shortcuts for common navigation tasks.A - Accessibility options
0 - Skip navigation
1 - Home
2 - Alexandrite chapters
3 - Alexandrite directory
4 - Alexandrite forums
5 - Alexandrite gemstones
6 - Alexandrite localities
7 - Contact information
8 - About Alexandrite Guide
9 - Sitemap
To use these keyboard shortcutsOn Windows, press ALT + access key, then ENTER.
On Macintosh, press CTRL + access key, then ENTER.
Some browsers, such as Opera, use a different method for activiating access keys so they don`t conflict with other software or operating system shortcuts. Please refer to your Browser´s Help facility for more information.
Headings
HTML heading tags are used to convey document structure. H1 tags are used for main titles, H2 tags for subtitles, and so on.
Navigation
Navigation menus are marked up as HTML lists. This ensures that the number of links in the list is read out at the start and it can be skipped easily. All pages contain the same primary navigation bar in the header, and the same set of links in the page footer. All pages have home page, search and site map links that can be used by text-only browsers, screen readers and some conventional browsers.
Images
This website graphics are thoroughly optimized to maintain faster-than-average page loading speeds. All content images used in this website include descriptive ALT attributes. Purely decorative graphics include null ALT attributes. Complex images include LONGDESC attributes or inline descriptions to explain the significance of each image to non-visual readers.
Colors
We have checked the website´s font and background colour combination against the different colour blindness conditions and ensured that all information is still clear.
Style sheets
This website uses cascading style sheets for visual layout. If your browser or browsing device does not support stylesheets at all, the use of structured semantic markup ensures that the content of each page is still readable and clearly structured.
Links
Links are written to make sense out of context. Many browsers can extract a list of links from a page, so the target for a link should be identifiable in this format. No links contain direct references to javascript code, unless those links are themselves created through javascript. If javascript is turned off, all links can be followed in any browser. There are no links that open a new window without warning. No new windows are opened automatically, for example when a page loads.
Javascript
While JavaScript is used frequently on the website to improve usability, all pages and processes are still accessible and usable if JavaScript is not available.
PICS
PICS enables parents to help control what their children can view on the Internet and at Alexandrite Guide website in particular.
P3P
This website carries a P3P (Platform for Privacy Preferences) statement in its code which can be automatically read and interpreted by the latest browser software.
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Standards compliance
Alexandrite Guide website is fully accessible to people with disabilities and obey the spirit of the Disability Discrimination Act (DDA) of 1995 with respect to the provision of services online, as required by the Disability Rights Commission (DRC). It conforms with the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 1.0 (Level Double-A) specified by the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) and was tested against WCAG Priority 1,2,3 and U.S. Section 508 Guidelines by the WebXACT and Cynthia.
			
All pages validate as XHTML 1.0 Transitional. The pages use Cascading Style Sheets which can be read by CSS-P compliant and non-compliant browsers. All pages use structured semantic markup.
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Internet Content Rating
Alexandrite Guide website is a self labelled website using the Internet Content Rating Association voluntary standard, because we, at Alexandrite Guide, realise the importance of protecting minors from unsuitable content and that´s why we label every page we serve with an ICRA label. It´s important to note no moral stance is adopted; it´s a question of responsibility, where webmasters are asked to identify whether certain elements exist on their website or not.
The Internet Content Rating Association, an international, non-profit organisation, offer responsible adults an opportunity to take an active informed decision on the suitability of website content for minors and other individuals within their care view while surfing the web. ICRA has long believed the best approach to protecting children online is through “user empowerment”, giving families the tools to control their online experience. When used voluntarily, tools like ICRA´s empower families to match their online experience with their values, without compromising free expression or undermining other users access to information.
The centrepiece of the organization is the descriptive vocabulary, often referred to as “the ICRA questionnaire”. Content providers check which of the 45 elements in the questionnaire are present or absent from their websites. This then generates a short piece of computer code known as an ICRA label that the webmaster then adds to the website. Users, especially parents of young children, can then use filtering software to allow or disallow access to web sites based on the information declared in the label.
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Platform of Privacy Preferences
Alexandrite Guide website carries a P3P (Platform for Privacy Preferences) statement in its code which can be read by various P3P enabled browsers. Although we use every effort to ensure that our P3P statement is accurate, in cases of conflict between the P3P statement and this privacy policy, the provisions of this privacy policy shall prevail.
P3P Privacy Policy can be automatically read and interpreted by the latest browser software. P3P is an industry standard developed by the World Wide Web Consortium providing a simple, automated way for you to gain more control over the use of personal information on websites you visit. P3P enabled browsers can “read” this snapshot automatically and compare it to your own set of privacy preferences. For example, Microsoft Internet Explorer 6 will evaluate this policy´s compact policy whenever it is used with a cookie. The actions IE will take depend on what privacy level you have selected in your browser (Low, Medium, Medium High, or High); the default is Medium. In addition, IE will examine whether the cookie’s policy is considered satisfactory or unsatisfactory, whether the cookie is a session cookie or a persistent cookie, and whether the cookie is used in a first-party or third-party context.
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Plug-in applications

The website contains a number of support materials and publications in PDF format, but we also include HTML versions of all the major documents currently in PDF format You may need an up-to-date verison of the Adobe Acrobat Reader, or similar PDF viewing software, in order to view and print some files. If you do not have the latest version installed, you can download it from the Adobe website.
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Cookies and session variables
Alexandrite Guid website does not require the use of cookies for casual website browsing. This website uses cookies or session variables for the more advanced features, like shopping basket. To use these features you may need cookie support enabled in your browser, but disabling of cookies will not limit or compromise the website’s functionality.
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Device support
This website uses cascading style sheets (CSS) for visual layout and presentation. The site is best viewed in a “standards compliant” web browser with proper stylesheet support, such as a recent version of Internet Explorer (5+), Netscape, Opera or Firefox. If you are using a browser which does not support style sheets (such as a PDA or text-only browser), or an older browser with poor stylesheet support (such as Netscape 4), the content of each page should still be fully accessible, but will be presented in plain-text format.
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