Help - Client-side CSS for enhancing accessibility

The design of the Web pages on this Web site are flexible enough to allow you to configure the visual presentation to meet your accessibility needs by using a client-side Cascading Style Sheet (CSS) file.

Most browsers provide the ability to specify a client-side CSS file, which would be applied to every Web page on this Web site that you visit. To take advantage of this feature, perform the following steps:

• How to create a client-side CSS file
  • How to make the skip navigation links visible?
  • How to make pages expand across the entire screen?
  • How to make all links underlined?
  • How to make links all have the same foreground and background colours?
  • How to add more contrast to the content page banner?
  • How to add more contrast to the Welcome Page message area?
• How to configure your browser to use a client-side CSS file?
  • Internet Explorer for Windows
  • Internet Explorer for Mac
  • Mozilla Firefox, Netscape (6.0 and later) and Mozilla
  • Opera 8 and later
  • Opera 7
  • Safari

How to create a client-side CSS file

To create a client-side style sheet, create a plain text file with a ".css" file extension using either a plain text editor or a CSS editor. Include CSS syntax (http://www.w3.org/Style/CSS/) in your client-side CSS file to control the visual presentation of Web pages.

To make it easier for you to enhance the accessibility of Web pages on this Web site, you can include any combination of the following client-side CSS in your client-side CSS file.

How to make the skip navigation links visible?

1. Open you client-side CSS file and paste the following snippet:
   
   div.navaid {
position: static !important;
font-size: 100% !important;
float: none !important;
overflow: visible !important;
width: auto !important;
height: auto !important;
}
div.navaid a {
color: #00F !important;
padding: 5px !important;
line-height: 150% !important;
}
   
   
2. Save your CSS file and refresh your browser

Your browser should now display the "Skip to content" and "Skip to institutional links"

How to make pages expand across the entire screen?

1. Open you client-side CSS file and paste the following snippet:
   
   div.page {
width : 100% !important;
}
   
   
2. Save your CSS file and refresh your browser

Your browser should now display the pages at 100% of the width of the screen.

How to make all links underlined?

1. Open you client-side CSS file and paste the following snippet:
   
   a:link, a:visited, a:hover {
text-decoration: underline !important;
}
   
   
2. Save your CSS file and refresh your browser

Your browser should now underline all links on the screen.

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How to make links all have the same foreground and background colours?

1. Open you client-side CSS file and paste the following snippet:
   
   a:link, a:visited, a:hover {
background-color: #FFF !important;
font-weight: normal !important;
font-style: normal !important;
font-variant: normal !important;
padding: 0px 0px 2px 2px !important;
}
a:link {
color: #00F !important;
}
a:visited {
color: #009 !important;
}
a:hover {
color: #F00 !important;
}
   
   Please note that the colours in the above example can be modified and are assigned as follows:
   
   

   Link property	Class name	Class property	Colour (hex)	Colour
   Background colour	a:link, a:visited, a:hover	background-color	#FFF	White
   Normal link colour	a:link	color	#00F	Blue
   Visited link colour	a:visited	color	#009	Dark Blue
   Hover link colour	a:hover	color	#F00	Red

   
   
   
2. Save your CSS file and refresh your browser

Your browser should now display all links with the same foreground and background colours.

How to add more contrast to the content page banner?

1. Open you client-side CSS file and paste the following snippet:
   
   div.banner, div.banner-eng, div.banner-fra, div.banner-lfcoa-eng, div-banner-lfcoa-fra {
background: none !important;
border-top: 1px solid #000 !important;
border-left: 1px solid #000 !important;
border-right: 1px solid #000 !important;
min-height: 5.58em !important;
margin-top: 3.14em !important;
padding-bottom: 0.67em !important;
}
* html img.coa, * html img.lf {
margin-top: -2.84em !important;
}
div.banner-lfcoa-eng img.coa, div.banner-lfcoa-eng img.lf, div-banner-lfcoa-fra img.coa, div-banner-lfcoa-fra img.lf {
display: inline !important;
}
div.banner-eng p.main, div-banner-fra p.main, div.banner-lfcoa-eng p.main, div-banner-lfcoa-fra p.main, div.banner-eng
p#siteuri, div-banner-fra p#siteuri, div.banner-lfcoa-eng p#siteuri, div-banner-lfcoa-fra p#siteuri {
position: static !important;
font-size: 100% !important;
float: none !important;
overflow: visible !important;
width: auto !important;
height: auto !important;
}
div.banner-eng p.main, div.banner-fra p.main, div.banner-lfcoa-eng p.main, div.banner-lfcoa-fra p.main {
font-family: "times new roman", sans-serif !important;
font-weight: bold !important;
font-size: 185% !important;
margin: 0 !important;
padding: 0 !important;
}
div.banner-eng p#siteuri, div-banner-fra p#siteuri, div.banner-lfcoa-eng p#siteuri, div-banner-lfcoa-fra p#siteuri {
font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif !important;
background-color: transparent !important;
font-weight: lighter !important;
font-size: 110% !important;
margin: 0 !important;
padding: 0 !important;
}
p.main, p.main span, p#siteuri, p#siteuri span {
color: #000 !important;
}
* html p.main, * html p.main span, * html p#siteuri, * html p#siteuri span {
width: 99.5% !important;
}
p.main img, p#siteuri img {
display: none !important;
}
   
   
2. Save your CSS file and refresh your browser

Your browser has now disabled the original background colour or image in the banner, and replaced it with a high contrast foreground and background colour combination.

How to add more contrast to the Welcome Page message area?

1. Open you client-side CSS file and paste the following snippet:
   
   .msgarea, .msgareaalt {
background: none !important;
border-top: 1px solid #000 !important;
border-left: 1px solid #000 !important;
border-right: 1px solid #000 !important;
}
.msgareaalt {
border-bottom: 1px solid #000 !important;
}
* html .msgarea, * html .msgareaalt {
width: 99.7% !important;
}
* html .msgarea {
height: 129px !important;
}
* html .msgareaalt {
height: 248px !important;
}
.msgarea h1, .msgareaalt h1 {
color: #000 !important;
}
.msgarea h1.hidden, .msgareaalt h1.hidden {
position: static !important;
font-size: 200% !important;
float: none !important;
overflow: visible !important;
width: 100% !important;
height: auto !important;
font-weight: bold !important;
}
.headcontainer {
background-color: #FFF !important;
color: #000 !important;
border: 1px solid #000 !important;
}
* html .headcontainer {
width: 99.7% !important;
height: 118px !important;
}

   
2. Save your CSS file and refresh your browser

Your browser has now disabled the original background colour or image in the Welcome Page message area, and replaced it with a high contrast foreground and background colour combination.

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How to configure your browser to use a client-side CSS file?

Internet Explorer for Windows

1. Select "Internet Options…" in the "Tools" menu.
2. Select the "Accessibility…" button.
3. Check the "Format documents using my style sheet" box.
4. Use the "Browse…" button to select your client-side CSS file.
5. Confirm the changes by using the "OK" button.

Internet Explorer for Mac

1. Select "Preferences…" in the "Explorer" menu.
2. Select the "Web Content" section under the "Web Browser" list item (expand the "Web Browser" list item as necessary).
3. Check the "Show style sheets" and "Use my style sheet" boxes.
4. Use the "Select Style Sheet…" button to select your client-side CSS file.
5. Confirm the changes by using the "OK" button.

Mozilla Firefox, Netscape (6.0 and later) and Mozilla

1. Rename your client-side CSS file to "userContent.css".
2. Copy the file to the "chrome" sub-folder in your browser profile folder. Instructions for finding your profile folder (http://support.mozilla.com/en-US/kb/). The "chrome" sub-folder should contain the files "userContent-example.css" and "userChrome-example.css".
3. Restart the browser.

Opera 8 and later

1. Select "Preferences…" in the "Tools" menu.
2. Select the "Advanced" tab.
3. Select the "Content" option in the list.
4. Select the "Style options…" button.
5. Use the "Choose…" button to select your client-side CSS file.
6. Confirm the changes by using the "OK" button.

Opera 7

1. Select "Preferences…" in the "File" menu.
2. Select "Page Style".
3. Use the "Choose…" button to select your client-side CSS file.
4. Confirm the changes by using the "OK" button.

Safari

1. Select "Preferences" in the "Safari" menu.
2. Select "Advanced".
3. Use the "Other" button to select your client-side CSS file.
4. Confirm the changes by using the "OK" button.