In this blog post, Eilidh – one of the 2024-25 Screensavers – explains the accessibility bar on the Mind Yer Time website!

What it is and how to use it

There is a new feature on the Mind Yer Time website in the form of the accessibility bar. The accessibility bar is a resource that helps blind and visually impaired young people or even young people with dyslexia or dyspraxia as they might prefer listening to information rather than reading. The bar can be accessed from the bottom right of your screen where there is a little man stuck inside a circle.

This bar is made of 12 different features and they are:

• Pointing figure: This icon is used for choosing the text you want to read. Say you went on the website on Monday and then didn’t have time to look at it all, when you carry on looking at it on Tuesday you don’t have to listen to the stuff you listened to before just click on the pointing finger and choose the place you left off at. 
• Play, Stop and Pause: By clicking on the triangle which is the next icon along the voice will start speaking. The square means stop and the two lines side by side mean pause. Pause is unlike stop because it stops the voice speaking for a time period until you want to start again – say you want to make a cup of tea you can pause while the kettle boils and then play again by pressing the triangle. 
• Translate: by pressing the next icon you will be able to translate the website into your preferred language. When clicking on this button a drop down menu appears and then you can select the language you want. 
• Photo dictionary: For this icon when pressed a drop down menu will appear and all it requires you to do is select a word by highlighting it and the photo dictionary will find a picture that describes that word. 
• MP3: By selecting the piece of information you want, this button will create what you choose into an MP3.
• Screen mask: This one will darken out the rest of the screen and leave you two lines bright so those readers who struggle with reading the whole piece at once can click on this icon and break the text down.  
• Magnification: Some young people may prefer to listen to the information on the screen and still want to read it at the same time but struggle with the size of the text. Pressing this icon makes the text that you choose appear big whilst also being read out. 
• Simplify page: It’s amazing how many colours and graphics are on this website – they really make it eye catching for the user. But this can be distracting for some readers, so this icon will simplify the page making it only the words on the screen and at the top you can change the text font and size, the contrast, and how much is shown on the screen at once.
• Help: If you happen to forget the function of the accessibility bar then clicking on the question mark will give you a list of what the different icons are all used for. 
• Settings: This feature is the last icon on the bar. When opening settings there are three options: General, Screen Mask, and Themes.
  • The general one is all about the voice, how fast it is and the size of magnification.
  • The screen mask part of settings allows you to change the colours of the darkened parts of the screen but also your reading colour – its default is white but say reading with blue helps better it can be changed. You can also choose how solid the darker part is and how many lines it shows in the bright part at one time.
  • On themes you can change two things: the colour of the bar itself and the colour of the text when it highlights it while reading. 

Why is making websites accessible important? 

Making websites accessible is essential because it ensures that everyone, regardless of their abilities, can use, navigate, and benefit from online content. Making web pages accessible to all means the disabled young person can enjoy browsing the internet just like everyone else. If it’s from using a screen reader if your visually impaired or the use of keyboard shortcuts for mobility challenges.

Accessibility is a legal requirement in many countries, aligning with laws like the Equality Act 2010. Making a website accessible is helpful to all. For example, captions on videos are helpful also to non-native speakers and for people who are in noisy environments. The internet is a crucial resource in modern life. Ensuring it is accessible means empowering everyone to learn and connect without barriers.