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Customising the Appearance of LabTrove for Accessibility

You can use functions in most browsers to customise the appearance of LabTrove to make it easier for you to read. The steps to customise the appearance of LabTrove depend upon the browser you are using. Refer to the appropriate section for instructions for your chosen browser. For other browsers, see your browser documentation for information on configuring fonts, colours, and using style sheets.

Internet Explorer​

Internet Explorer provides a number of ways of customising the appearance of webpages. The settings that you change will affect all the webpages that you visit.

Internet Explorer lets you pick the font styles and colours displayed on webpages, but these settings do not affect webpages that are designed to prevent changes to colours and fonts. If you want to change the colours and fonts on all webpages you can override the settings provided by the webpage developers. In LabTrove there are some settings that you might need to override if you want to change their appearance. To override the webpage settings:

  1. In the browser, click Tools > Internet Options.
  2. On the General tab, click Accessibility in the Appearance section.
  3. (Optional) To ensure your choice of colours are displayed on all webpages, make sure that Ignore colours specified in webpages is selected.
  4. (Optional) To ensure your choice of font styles are displayed on all webpages, make sure that Ignore font styles specified on webpages is selected.
  5. (Optional) To ensure your choice of font sizes are displayed on all webpages, make sure that Ignore font sizes specified on webpages is selected.
  6. Click OK to save the changes.

Changing colours​

To change the colour of text, links, and the background in Internet Explorer:

  1. In the browser, click Tools > Internet Options.
  2. On the General tab, click Colors in the Appearance section. The Colors dialog is displayed.
  3. To change the colours that are used in the web pages, ensure that Use Windows colours is not selected. Click on the colour selector next to each label to change the colour displayed for that type of text.
  4. (Optional) Select Use hover color if you want to change the colour used for links when you hover the mouse over them. Select the colour to use for Hover.
  5. Click OK to change the colours.

Changing the style of fonts​

You can change the style of webpage text and plain text to a limited range of font styles in Internet Explorer, depending upon the language of the text. To change the style of text in Internet Explorer:

  1. In the browser, click Tools > Internet Options.
  2. On the General tab, click Fonts in the Appearance section. The Fonts dialog is displayed.
  3. (Optional) The default script is the one associated with the current locale of your machine. To change the fonts for other scripts, select the appropriate script from the Language script menu.
  4. (Optional) Change the standard font used on webpages by selecting a font from the list beneath Webpage font.
  5. (Optional) Change the font used for plain text by selecting a font from the list beneath Plain text font.
  6. Click OK to save your changes.

Using your own style sheet​

If you want to further customise how webpages look in Internet Explorer you can use your own style sheet. To use your own style sheet in Internet Explorer:

  1. In the browser, click Tools > Internet Options.
  2. On the General tab, click Accessibility in the Appearance section. The Accessibility dialog is displayed.
  3. Select Format documents using my style sheet.
  4. Click Browse and locate your style sheet.
  5. Click Open.
  6. Click OK to save your change.

Webpages should now be displayed using your style sheet.

Firefox​

Firefox provides a number of ways of customising the appearance of webpages. The settings that you change will affect all the webpages that you visit. Firefox does not allow you to use your own style sheets, but you can change colours, font styles, and font sizes.

Changing the colours​

To change the colours in Firefox:

  1. In the browser, click Tools > Options.
  2. Select the Content tab.
  3. Click Colours. The Colours dialog is displayed.
  4. (Optional) Change the colours for different elements of the webpages by clicking on the colour selector next to each label.
  5. (Optional) If you want all the webpages to use just the colours you have selected, ensure that Use system colours and Allow pages to choose their own colours, instead of my selections above are not selected.
  6. Click OK to close the Colours dialog.
  7. Click OK to save your changes

Changing the default font​

To change the default font in Firefox:

  1. In the browser, click Tools > Options.
  2. Select the Content tab.
  3. (Optional) Change the default font for text on a webpage by selecting a new font from the Default font menu.
  4. (Optional) Change the size for the default font by selecting a new size from the Size menu.
  5. Click OK to save your changes.

Changing the font styles and sizes​

You can change the style of webpage text and plain text to a limited range of font styles in Firefox, depending upon the language or script of the text. To change the font styles and sizes in Firefox:

  1. In the browser, click Tools > Options.
  2. Select the Content tab.
  3. Click Advanced to display the Fonts dialog.
  4. (Optional) The default fonts are those associated with the current locale of your machine. To change the fonts for other languages or scripts, select the appropriate language or script from the Fonts for menu.
  5. (Optional) Choose whether to use a serif (like Times New Roman) or sans-serif (like Arial) font for webpages by selecting your preference from the Proportional menu. Some people find fonts with serifs (stroke details on the characters) easier to read than those without (sans-serif).
  6. (Optional) Change the size for the default font by selecting a new size from the Size menu next to the Proportional menu.
  7. (Optional) Choose the fonts to use for Serif, Sans-serif, and Monospace fonts.
  8. (Optional) Change the size for the font used for monospace text by selecting a new size from the Size menu next to the Monospace menu.
  9. (Optional) If you want to ensure that the font size is never too small for you to read, you can set a minimum size for the font. Choose a value for font size from the Minimum font size menu.
  10. (Optional) If you want all webpages (including LabTrove) display the fonts styles that you have selected, clear Allow pages to choose their own fonts, instead of my selections above.
  11. Click OK to close the Fonts dialog.
  12. Click OK to save your changes.

Chrome​

Chrome provides a limited number of ways of customising the appearance of webpages. You can change the font size and customise the fonts. You can also change the page zoom to make all the contents of the webpages larger.

Changing the default font size​

To change the default font in Chrome:

  1. In the browser, click on the Customise and control Google Chrome button.
  2. Select Options from the menu. The Chrome options are displayed in a new tab.
  3. Click Under the Bonnet.
  4. Change the default font size for text on a webpage by selecting a new size from the Font size menu. The change is made to any open webpages immediately.
  5. Close the options tab.

Customising fonts​

To customise font settings in Chrome:

  1. In the browser, click on the Customise and control Google Chrome button.
  2. Select Options from the menu. The Chrome options are displayed in a new tab.
  3. Click Under the Bonnet.
  4. Click Customise fonts. The Fonts and Encoding page is displayed.
  5. (Optional) To change the standard font used on webpages, select a new font from the Standard font menu. A preview of the font style and size is displayed on the right.
  6. (Optional) To change the size of the standard font used on webpages, select a new size by using the slider in the Standard font section. A preview of the font style and size is displayed on the right.
  7. (Optional) Choose font styles for default Serif, Sans-serif, and Fixed-width fonts by selecting a new font from the menu next to each label.
  8. (Optional) If you want to ensure that the font size is never too small for you to read, you can set a minimum size for the font. Choose a value for font size from the Minimum font size slider.

Changes are made to any open webpages immediately. To continue, close the options tab.

Changing the page zoom​

To make the whole contents of the webpages larger or smaller, change the page zoom:

In the browser, click on the Customise and control Google Chrome button. Select Options from the menu. The Chrome options are displayed in a new tab. Click Under the Bonnet. Change the zoom of webpages by selecting a new zoom percent from the Page zoom menu. The change is made to any open webpages immediately.

Close the options tab.

Safari​

Safari provides a number of ways of customising the appearance of webpages. The settings that you change will affect all the webpages that you visit.

Changing the style and size of fonts​

You can change the style of webpage text and fixed width text to a limited range of font styles in Safari. You can only change the font style and size. Although colours and other options are displayed for the fonts, the values for these options are not changed when you select them in the Fonts dialog.

To change the style and size of text in Safari:

  1. In the browser, click Safari > Preferences. The Preferences dialog is displayed.
  2. Select the Appearance tab
  3. (Optional) To change the standard font displayed on webpages, click Select next to the Standard font preview. The Fonts dialog is displayed.
    1. (Optional) Select a new font from the Family list. The change is made to any open webpages immediately.
    2. (Optional) Change the size of the font by selecting a new value from the Value list. The change is made to any open webpages immediately.
    3. Close the Fonts dialog.
  4. (Optional) To change the fixed-width font displayed on webpages, click Select next to the Fixed-width font preview. The Fonts dialog is displayed.
    1. (Optional) Select a new font from the Family list. The change is made to any open webpages immediately.
    2. (Optional) Change the size of the font by selecting a new value from the Value list. The change is made to any open webpages immediately.
    3. Close the Fonts dialog.
  5. Close the Preferences dialog.

If you want to ensure that the font size is never too small for you to read, you can set a minimum size for the font:

  1. In the browser, click Safari > Preferences. The Preferences dialog is displayed.
  2. Select the Advanced tab
  3. Ensure that Never use font sizes smaller than is selected in the Universal Access section.
  4. Select a minimum font size to use from the menu
  5. Close the Preferences dialog.

Using your own style sheet​

If you want to further customise how webpages look in Safari you can use your own style sheet:

  1. In the browser, click Safari > Preferences. The Preferences dialog is displayed.
  2. Select the Advanced tab
  3. To select a style sheet to use, click on the menu in the Style sheet section, and select Other.
  4. Locate the style sheet you want to use and click Choose. Changes are made to any open webpages immediately.
  5. Close the Preferences dialog.

Highlighting items on tab​

Safari has a useful feature to help you if you navigate webpages using a keyboard rather than a mouse. When the feature is enabled the current part of the webpage that has focus after your press the Tab key is highlighted. When you press Tab again, the next selected item on the webpage is highlighted. To enable highlighting of the selected items on webpages:

  1. In the browser, click Safari > Preferences. The Preferences dialog is displayed.
  2. Select the Advanced tab.
  3. In the Universal Access section, ensure that Press Tab to highlight each item on a webpage is selected.
  4. Close the Preferences dialog.

What to do next: