The college has adopted priority one standards from the Web Content Accessibility
Guidelines 2 (WCAG 2.0). These standards are currently being incorporated into our
web pages. A student with a verified disability may be entitled to appropriate academic
accommodations. Please contact your instructor or the Disability Students Programs
and Services at 760-355-6434 for further information.
If you need information in an alternate format please contact the Disability Students
Programs and Services. Persons who are deaf, hard of hearing or speech impaired, and
have difficulty using a telephone, are encouraged to use the following email to request
information and accommodations: ada@imperial.edu. or you may use the following ADA Accommodations Request Form.
Accessibility
This website has been developed in compliance with California Government Code 11135,
located in Section D of the California Government Code. Code 11135 requires that all
electronic and information technology developed or purchased by the State of California
Government is accessible to people with disabilities. There are various types of physical
disabilities that impact user interaction on the web. Vision loss, hearing loss, limited
manual dexterity, and cognitive disabilities are examples, with each having different
means by which to access electronic information effectively. Our goal is to provide
a good web experience for all visitors.
Below you will find a list of some of the technology solutions we have integrated
to make our websites easy to navigate, fast-loading and accessible. To further improve
the ease of use and readability of this site, such as increasing the font size, please
review the section below on how to customize your browser.
Quick Links
What Makes Our Website Accessible?
- Clean, Simple and Consistent
Our website uses simple information architecture with uniform navigation and reliable
headings throughout. Content layout and graphical design are consistent on every page.
- "Skip To:" Menu
The "Skip to" navigation appears at the top of each page. It allows the user to jump to the content area,
accessibility page, or footer, and skip the navigation and other header elements,
which repeat on every page.
- The Navigation
The main navigation, located just below the title banner (California logo and branding
banner), uses lists. Lists make it easier for screen readers to literally read down the list without
having to sort through unnecessary code. Lists also allow the users to use the tab
key to move from link to link.
- Breadcrumb Navigation
Breadcrumbs, located at the top of each page (except for the homepage) and directly
below the main navigation, let you know where you are and where you have been, or
where a particular file resides. Breadcrumbs make it easier to navigate your way back
to the root folder.
- Images With Alternative Text
Photographs and other relevant images on the site are accompanied by alternative text
(the ALT tag.) Alt tags provide a written description of the image, which is accessible
to screen readers, and it is visible when the mouse is placed over the image. This
is also useful for people who have images turned off on their browser, in which case
a description will display where the image used to be.
- Relative Font Sizing
Relative font size can be enlarged using magnification tools or by changing your browser settings.
- Style Sheets
Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) are used for content layout and graphical elements (color,
font styles, custom titles and subtitles, etc.) Using CSS for styling keeps our HTML
clean, streamlined, easier to maintain, and it downloads faster. Style sheets can be replaced by the user's own styles.
To turn CSS off, and access the content without any formatting, download and install
the Firefox Web Developer toolbar or the Internet Explorer Developer toolbar. With these toolbars turning CSS on and off is just a click away, plus they offer
many other helpful tools. If you use a different browser, do an Internet search for
accessibility for your particular browser.
- Fluid Sizing Display
The width of our pages changes and adapts to the width of your browser. This is more
noticeable if you have a large screen and/or use high resolution for your monitor.
Our website is viewed best at a minimum of 960 x 600 pixels.
- Accessible Via Mouse or Keyboard
You can use the mouse or keyboard to navigate through our information. The tab key will move the cursor from link to link.
- No Sound, No Images, No Problem
Content is accessible without sound, color, scripts or graphics.
- Improved Search Engine
Google search engine provides more relevant results than our previous state search application.
Customize Your Browser to Fit Your Needs
Change font size
In most browsers (example: Internet Explorer, Firefox, Netscape) you could change
the font size by following the steps below:
- Open your browser
- Click View button from top menu bar
- Click Text Size
- Select your option
If your browser uses a different naming convention and you do not see this path, please
check the Help menu on your browser. The Help menu is usually the last option on the
top menu bar, and it can often be accessed by pressing the keys "Alt" + "H".
In addition, newer browser versions have a magnifying tool that lets you zoom into
a page and display all elements at 150 percent, 200 percent, etc. Look for the magnifying
tool with a "+" character. This icon is typically located at the bottom of your browser,
on the right, or at the top, below the standard menu tools, on the right. Furthermore,
the keyboard shortcut to access this tool is: "Ctrl" + "Shift" + "+" to zoom in, and "Ctrl" + "Shift" + "-" to zoom out.
Shortcuts
- Keyboard shortcuts: This is a list of the most common keyboard shortcuts in Firefox, and the equivalents
in Internet Explorer and Opera (from Firefox website).
- Mouse shortcuts: This is a list of the most common mouse shortcuts in Firefox, and the equivalents
in Internet Explorer and Opera. The shortcuts are for Windows, but most of the Firefox
shortcuts should work in Linux, too (from FireFox website).
- Internet Explorer keyboard shortcuts.
Add-ons
- Internet Explorer developer toolbar: Disable all CSS and images, resize window, etc.
- Making Internet Explorer more accessible:
- Internet Explorer accessibility options (from Microsoft.com) - Internet Explorer offers many accessibility options to help
increase readability and to work better with assistive technology. The IE link above
offers answers to some common questions about accessibility options in Internet Explorer:
- Can I use the keyboard to surf the web?
- Can I customize the font size, formatting, and screen colors?
- How can I improve the way IE works with my screen reader or voice recognition software?
- How can I improve legibility when printing webpages?
Change CSS
- Below is the step by step on how to change the style sheet file in Internet Explorer.
For other browsers please check the Help menu.
- Click Tools from the top menu bar
- Select Internet Options
- Select the General tab (first tab)
- Click on Accessibility button (bottom section, Appearance)
- Click on checkboxes to ignore all colors and font styles and sizes and/or
- Click on checkbox: "Format documents using my style sheet"
- Browse to your personal style sheet and
- Click OK
We are constantly updating our content and striving to make it accessible. If you
have any questions or suggestions, please contact us.
Difficulty Accessing Material
If you have difficulty accessing any material on this site because of a disability,
please contact us in writing and we will work with you to make the information available.
You can direct your request to the ADA Accommodations's Request Form.
