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Help & accessibility
What is accessibility?
An accessible website is one which allows all Internet users to access its content easily, including people with disabilities requiring special browsers. For example, in an accessible website:
- blind visitors can use specialist tools (voice synthesis and braille touchpads),
- partially sighted users can adjust the display settings to their needs (larger text, colour and contrast adjustment),
- people who have lost the use of their hands can move around the site without a mouse.
To achieve this, strict standards have to be applied in designing and updating the site.
Accessibility aids available on gdfsuez.com
The site www.gdfsuez.com is accessible and offers numerous functions that make browsing easy for all Internet users.
- Page customisation
Content and layout on the website are kept separate, which means that users can customise the display to meet their needs. For example, it is possible to:
- change the character size: you can use your browser options to change the font size. To do this, go to the “View” menu (in Mozilla Firefox or Internet Explorer), select “Text size” and choose the font size you want.
- remove layout features (colours, styles, font sizes, etc.):
- with Internet Explorer: open the “Tools” menu at the top of the browser page and select “Internet Options”. Select the “General” tab in the dialog box and click on the “Accessibility” button. Tick the first 2 boxes (“Ignore colours specified on web pages” and “Ignore font styles specified on web pages”) and confirm.
- with Mozilla Firefox: go to the “View” menu at the top of the browser, select “Page Style” and choose “No Style”.
- Text-to-speech
The text-to-speech option lets you listen to the content of page rather than reading it. This can make browsing and accessing information more comfortable for some users. Text-to-speech is available on every page of the website in the Toolbox through the “Text-to-speech” link. This function requires the use of a Flash plug-in.
- Navigation aids
- Back to Home Page: clicking on the GDF SUEZ logo at the top left of every page on the website takes you back to the home page.
- Breadcrumb Trail: this shows your browsing history and your location in the website. The Breadcrumb Trail is shown at the top of each page on the website. You can click on any part of it, making it easy to retrace your steps.
- Site Map: this gives an overview of all the sections and subsections in the website. You can access it from a link at the bottom of each page.
- Search Engine: every page on the site has a link to the search engine. The search result displays the page which most closely matches your search criteria.
- Fast Access to Content link: a hidden “Go to content” link allows voice synthesis users to access the editorial area of each page directly.
- Title to Title Browsing: the website pages are structured into headings and crossheadings which allow voice synthesis users to read the page contents.
- Keyboard-Only Browsing: to browse using the keyboard only, use the “up” and “down” arrows to move the scrollbar, the TAB key to move between links and the “Enter” key to activate the link you are on.
- Download tools to view certain content
To view certain PDF, Flash and Real content, you need to have plug-ins installed on your computer. If you don’t have those plug-ins, you can download them for free via the following links:
- Abbreviations and acronyms
The site has a glossary giving definitions of all the terms, abbreviations and acronyms used.