Accessibility

The State of California is strongly committed to improved accessibility for all Californians. The Department of Toxic Substances Control (DTSC) is in the process of modifying its Web site to satisfy all Priority 1 and 2 guidelines, for “AA” compliance with the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C), Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 1.0. In addition, the DTSC Web site will satisfy Section 508, Subpart B, Subsection 1194.22, Guidelines A-P of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 as revised in 1998. View DTSC’s Website ADA Compliance Certification.

In our effort to provide a fully accessible and optimized user experience for all site visitors, DTSC has taken careful measure to ensure an excellent user experience, regardless of the assistive technology being used to access this site or the specific abilities of those individuals seeking access to this site. DTSC’s website is monitored and tested regularly by internal resources and by AudioEye, a third-party provider of Web Accessibility testing and monitoring. As issues of accessibility are identified, results of automated and manual testing are managed through the AudioEye® Digital Accessibility Platform. As new solutions are discovered to improve the user experience, remediation is tracked through the AudioEye system and fixes are implemented to improve the website user experience.

The State of California accepts no responsibility for the content or accessibility of the external websites or external documents linked to on this website.

Difficulty Accessing Material

Please note that, despite DTSC’s best efforts, some applications and/or technical documents cannot be fully remediated and/or may contain errors when remediated. If you have a disability and have difficulty accessing any material on this site, please contact us by mail, email, or telephone, and we will work with you to make the information available. Please indicate the nature of the accessibility need, your preferred format (large print, Braille, etc.), the material you are trying to access and its Web location, and how to reach you if questions arise while fulfilling your request. You can direct your requests to: For email Requests:

accessibility@dtsc.ca.gov

For written requests:

The Office of Civil Rights
Department of Toxic Substances Control
P.O. Box 806
Sacramento, CA 95812-0806

Via telephone:

+1 916 324-3095
+1 800 728-6942 (Toll free)

Website Accessibility Features

Our website has many features that are intended to make the experience of interacting with our website positive and productive for all users, including those with disabilities.

Accessible and Usable Design

Common and Consistent Look and Feel

Most pages on the DTSC website have a similar layout. This makes site navigation easier. Overall, the site is primarily text-based and has a simple, straight-forward design.

“Skip To” Links

A special link is placed at the top of most pages on the site that allows assistive technology to skip or “jump over” the site navigation.

Accessible Images

Images that are included on the DTSC website have “alternative text,” which many assistive technologies can read to the user.

Adjustable Text Size

Our website uses relative font sizes, which allow site visitors to increase the text size on web pages. The text size can be increased with the web browser’s text-size adjustment feature. For more information about text-size adjustments within a specific browser type and version, site visitors should consult available help in their browser.

Effective Search Engine

The DTSC website search engine provides relevant and easy to use search results, allowing quick navigation to the desired content.

Video Captions and Text Transcripts

Video files on the DTSC website are stored on YouTube where viewers can find help with seeing the text. Windows Media Player must be configured to turn ON captions since captions are turned OFF by default. Links to video files without embedded captions have adjacent text transcripts.

Style Sheets

Cascading Style Sheets are used throughout the site for layout, design, and style. This allows the DTSC website to be displayed in a readable fashion on different browser-enabled devices.

Standard Browser Usability Features

Note: Addition of this content is required under California Technology Letter 15-05. This content in this section is derived from the California Department of Technology’s Accessibility page.

Contrast Adjustments

High contrast is necessary for many users. The State’s websites, including DTSC, uses style sheets and some of the best contrast combinations, black on white, white on dark green, or blue on white. However, some users can see better using high contrast reverse types, such as white on black, or different colors. Below are guidelines for some common web browsers on how the user can customize their own web browser to better view all web pages.

Firefox

  1. Select the “Tools” menu.
  2. Select “Options.”
  3. Select the “Content” tab.
  4. Select “Colors.”
  5. Select colors desired for “Text”, “Background”, “Unvisited Links”, and “Visited Links” (example: white text and black background) and uncheck “Allow pages to choose their own colors, instead of my selections above.”
  6. Select the “OK” box, and then the “OK” box again. The colors should change on the browser.

Google Chrome

Accessibility Low-Vision Support such as High Contrast and Custom Color Support. There are a number of steps you can take to configure Chrome to run with custom contrast and colors:

  1. Install a Chrome Extension which allows you to specify your own custom color combinations.
    • Quick page action to apply/remove styling overrides on a per page, per domain or global basis (overriding webpage colors)
    • Optional background, text, links and visited links color configuration
    • Option for showing/hiding images
    • Option for showing/hiding Flash objects
  1. Use a Chrome Theme for some control of the color scheme of the Chrome user interface.

There are a number of steps you can take to configure Chrome to run with custom contrast and colors:

  1. Install a Chrome Extension which allows you to specify your own custom color combinations.
    • Quick page action to apply/remove styling overrides on a per page, per domain or global basis (overriding web page colors)
    • Optional background, text, links and visited links color configuration
    • Option for showing/hiding images
    • Option for showing/hiding Flash objects
  1. Use a Chrome Theme for some control of the color scheme of the Chrome user interface.

Opera

Fonts and Colors for Unstyled Webpages

Sometimes, webpages do not have a specified style for fonts, background color, or link colors. We have selected some default fonts and colors for you, but you may prefer to choose your own. To do this, select Settings > Preferences > webpages and select your preferred fonts, background color, or colors for normal and visited links. You can also enable or disable an underline for links.

Themes

A theme is a color scheme of the buttons and background images in the browser. You can apply a theme to Opera to entirely change the way Opera looks. To try a new theme:

  1. Go to the Opera addons page.
  2. Search for Contrast theme. Alternatively, select Appearance > Themes.
  3. Select “Find more themes. The available themes display.
  4. Choose one you like and select the “Add to Opera” button. The theme is applied so you can see if you like it.
  5. In the bar that displays at the top of the window, select either “Done X” to confirm the theme change and keep it, or “Undo” and everything will be back to the way it was. If you don’t make a decision after a short while, the theme is applied automatically.
Manage Themes

To see a list of all of the themes you have installed, select Appearance > Themes. You can delete or switch themes, or add new ones by selecting the “Find More Themes” button.

Safari

OS X Yosemite: Display pane of Accessibility preferences Make items on the screen easier to see and the display easier to read. To open this pane, choose Apple menu > System Preferences, select Accessibility, then select Display.

  • Invert colors: Invert the colors on your display. For example, text appears in white on a black background.
  • Use grayscale: Remove colors from the screen
  • Differentiate without color: Use shapes, in addition to or instead of color, to convey status or information
  • Increase contrast: Increase the contrast of items on the screen (such as borders around buttons or boxes) without changing the contrast of the screen itself.
  • Reduce transparency: Replace the transparent effect used on some backgrounds in OS X with a darker background, to improve contrast and readability.
  • Display contrast: Increase the screen contrast.
  • Cursor size: Increase the size of the pointer.

To quickly set some display options, press Option-Command-F5. You can enable keyboard shortcuts for inverting colors and changing the contrast in the Accessibility section of the Shortcuts pane of Keyboard preferences. To open the pane, choose Apple menu > System Preferences, select Keyboard, then select Shortcuts.

Font Adjustments

The fonts used on this site are a default size, which allows you to make adjustments according to your preference. The following is the easiest way to change the font size for some common web browsers.

Firefox

  1. Select the “Tools” menu.
  2. Select “Options”.
  3. Select the “Content” tab.
  4. Change the “Default Font” and “Size” values (for more advanced options, select “Advanced” next to the “Size” value).
  5. Select the “OK” box, and the fonts should change on the browser.

Google Chrome

Change text, image, and video sizes (zoom).

You can adjust the size of everything on the webpages you visit, including text, images, and videos.

  1. Select the Chrome menu (burger menu) on the browser toolbar
  2. Select “Settings.”
  3. Select “Show advanced settings.”
  4. In the “web Content” section, use the “Page zoom” drop-down menu to adjust the zoom.
How to set zoom on your current page

Use the zoom options in the Chrome menu to make everything on a webpage larger or smaller.

  1. Select the Chrome menu (burger menu) on the browser toolbar.
  2. Find the “Zoom” section in the menu and choose one of the following options:
    1. Select the plus sign (+) to make everything on the page larger.
    2. You can also use the keyboard shortcuts “Ctrl” and “+” (Windows, Linux, and Chrome OS), or the Command Key (⌘) and “+” on a Mac.
    3. Select the minus sign (-) to make everything smaller. You can also use the keyboard shortcuts “Ctrl” and “–” (Windows, Linux, and Chrome OS), or the Command Key(⌘) and “–” on a Mac.

To go into full-screen mode, use the keyboard shortcuts F11 (Windows and Linux), or Command Key (⌘) – Shift-F on a Mac. If you’re using Chrome OS, you can also press the Maximize Window key (max window key) at the top of your keyboard.

How to set the font size for all webpages

You can adjust the size of text on webpages:

  1. Select the Chrome menu () on the browser toolbar.
  2. Select “Settings.”
  3. Select “Show advanced settings.”
  4. In the “web Content” section, use the “Font size” drop-down menu to make adjustments.

Some websites prevent the browser from changing just text size. For those sites, Chrome won’t be able to adjust the font size.

Opera

Changing fonts

To specify how fonts in different parts of the browser and webpages are displayed, go to Settings > Preferences > Advanced > Fonts and select an item in the list, and select “Choose.”

Note: You may have to enable “My fonts and colors” in Author mode or User mode to make font changes for webpage elements work.

Font size

If text appears too small on certain pages, increase the minimum font size to ensure readability.

Font color

Not all webpages clearly specify styling for all page elements. Use this preference setting to choose which colors to use, and whether links should be underlined in such cases.

Webpage fonts

Not all webpages clearly specify styling for all page elements. To choose which fonts to use in these cases, go to Settings > Preferences > webpages.

Safari

Zoom in on web pages.

You can make text and images larger so they’re easier to view.

  1. Make the web page content larger: Choose View, then Zoom In, and press the Command Key (⌘) – Plus Sign (+), or pinch open on your trackpad, iPhone, or iPad.
  2. To make only the text larger, choose View > Zoom Text Only before you zoom in.
  3. To set a minimum font size for web pages: Choose Safari > Preferences, select Advanced, then select “Never use font sizes smaller than.” Select the pop-up menu and choose the minimum font size you want.
  4. Expand to full-screen view: Select the green full-screen button (green dot) in the top-left corner of the browser window, or press Control-Command Key (⌘)-F. To return to standard view, move the pointer to the top-left corner of the screen, then click the green full-screen button again, or press Control-Command Key (⌘)-F.

Safari iPhone or iPad

  1. On an iPad or an iPhone, open the “Settings” app.
  2. Choose “Accessibility.”
  3. Select “Display & Text Size.”
  4. Tap on “Larger Text.”
  5. Toggle the switch for “Larger Accessibility Sizes” to the ON position, then drag the Larger Text slider to your desired text size.

To make the content on a web page larger: Pinch open on your iPhone or iPad.

Some websites prevent the browser from changing just text size. For those sites, some browsers won’t be able to adjust the font size.

Keyboard Shortcuts

How to Navigate a Page with your Keyboard

To move from link to link or from one navigation heading to the next in Internet Explorer, Google Chrome, Opera, or Safari, use the following key equivalents:

  • Action Windows Macintosh
  • Move forward from link to link: Tab Tab
  • Move backward from link to link: Shift + tab Shift + tab
  • Move from one major navigation heading to the next: Tab Tab

How to Move within Drop Downs and from Page to Page with your Keyboard

To move within a drop down menu, or to move forward or back from one web page to another in Internet Explorer, Google Chrome, Opera, or Safari, use the following key equivalents:

  • Action Windows Macintosh
  • Move within drop down sub-menus: Up & down arrows 
  • Go forward a page: Alt + Right Arrow + Right Arrow
  • Move backward from link to link: Alt + Left Arrow + Left Arrow

More Keyboard Shortcuts

If you require assistance or wish to report an issue related to the accessibility of any content on this website, please email webcoord@dtsc.ca.gov. If applicable, please include the web address or URL and the specific problems you have encountered.

Adobe Acrobat PDF Files

Most of the documents on the DTSC website are in Adobe Acrobat® Portable Document Format (PDF).

PDF format is used to preserve the content and layout of our hard copy publications. Publications in PDF can only be viewed and printed using the Adobe Acrobat Reader®, version 3.0 or higher. You can download and get help using the Acrobat Reader at the Adobe Systems, Inc. site. The downloadable Acrobat Reader software is available at NO CHARGE from Adobe.

People using screen-reading devices generally are unable to read documents directly in PDF format, unless they have an accessibility plug-in installed on their system along with the Adobe Acrobat Reader. This plug-in is available at NO CHARGE from Adobe. Adobe also has online tools that will convert PDF files to HTML on request. To get the plug-in and latest news about Adobe’s accessibility tools and services, visit the Access Adobe site.

PowerPoint and Word Files

You can view our online publications that are in Microsoft PowerPoint® (.ppt) format if you have any version of PowerPoint installed on your computer. For those who don’t have the software, the Microsoft Corporation offers a FREE PowerPoint file viewer. You can download and get help using the PowerPoint viewer at the Microsoft Download Center.

You can view publications in Microsoft Word® (.doc) format if you have Word, version 6.0 or higher, installed on your computer. Word documents can also be viewed with many other word processing software programs. Additionally, Microsoft offers a FREE Word file viewer that you can download at its Microsoft Download Center.