Site specifications and requirements

Requirements

The entire site is coded in XHTML1.1 with ECMA-262 scripting (JavaScript 1.3), native XML1.0 databases and DOM 2 using Ajax techniques. However, all of the articles and genealogy resource pages can be viewed on browsers implementing the full W3C HTML4 standard or later and stylesheets to the full CSS1 standard with the commonly supported parts of CSS2 such as Microsoft Internet Explorer version 5 or later, Safari (all versions), Opera 8+ and Mozilla 5+ based browsers like Firefox (all versions) and Netscape 7+. A screen resolution of 800 x 600 pixels or more is highly recommended.

The searchable databases require more recent browser versions such as Internet Explorer 5.5+, Mozilla Firefox (all versions), Safari 1.2+, Netscape 7.2+ and Opera 9+. JavaScript must be enabled. Because of the sizes of some of the databases, a broadband internet connection is highly recommended and a Pentium 4 or G5 processor (or equivalent) is also recommended. Users of lower performance computers or internet connections will need patience on waiting for the results of their searches.

Similarly, the maps require JavaScript. Also, the same performance recommendations apply.

Page layout

All pages on this site have a consistent layout to ensure maximum ease of use.

The pale coloured title bar at the top of each page, in addition to having the site title, also has on the lower right hand side the path hierarchy of the emboldened current page. This hierarchy is consistent with the structure shown on the site map. The other pages in the path are directly accessible from the associated hyperlinks. These and all other links are initially brightly coloured but turn a dull colour after being visited. Whilst the pointer hovers over them or they are selected, they turn the complementary colour.

The main content of each page, on a white background, begins with a page heading.

The pale coloured footer at the bottom of the page has a number of links including one to the home page, one to an about us page, another to the site map, one to our privacy policy, another so that users can search our whole site and a link to allow users to contact us by email. Below these links is the latest revision date of the page followed by its copyright notice. In the case of the home page, the revision date is the date of the latest revision to any page of the site.

Accessibility

This site meets most of the W3C Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 1.0. However, it is not suitable for use on small hand held devices such as mobile telephones and PDAs, nor on low resolution screens of less than 640 x 480 pixels (800 x 600 pixels or more is highly recommended). But it is suitable for use on notebook and tablet PCs and on hand held ultra-mobile PCs.

Good text contrast is assured by using dark text on a plain white or pale coloured background. Clear, easy to read type faces have been chosen.

If you need to adjust the text size due to a vision impairment, most browsers such as Internet Explorer, Firefox and Netscape allow this (from their View menus) without compromising the page layout.

Disclaimer

Use of this site and its data and information is entirely at the user's risk. Any data required for a critical application should be thoroughly checked by the user for accuracy and suitability to that application.