We are committed to ensuring that this site is accessible to all users. The following guidelines are based on federal requirements outlined in Section 508 (the "Electronic and Information Technology Accessibility Standards," authorized by the Architectural and Transportation Barriers Compliance Board) as well as recommendations of the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C).
This site has been designed with existing accessibility recommendations and standards in mind. To ensure complete accessibility to all users, this site uses a three-column flexible approach with all global navigation exposed. High-contrast dark text on a light background is used for better readability.
Most images on this site are accompanied by a brief alt-text tag that identifies the image or its function. If you are using a graphic browser, alt-text tags are visible only if the browser's automatic image-loading feature is turned off.
Text hyperlinks are written so that they make sense when read out of context.
Some layout tables are used on this site. However, all content makes sense when the page is linearized. Where tables are used for the presentation of data, table cells are associated with headers to facilitate navigation with screen readers. Also, each data table has a summary that provides additional information about the table's contents.
Each page on the site begins with a "skip navigation" link. Choosing this link moves the user directly to the main content of the page, bypassing the long list of navigational links which appears on every page. This permits faster and easier navigation for those using screen readers or for anyone using the keyboard rather than a mouse to navigate the site.