Accessibility and site information

Site structure
Accessibility
Access keys
Restricted areas
Download

Site structure
The University portal is divided into six macro-areas – University, Teaching, Research, Students, Staff, Firms & industries – providing access to the main sections. The first three offer information concerning those areas while the other three offer each of the main user-categories of our portal a specific path to follow.

The page header – an image containing the University logo and “univaq.it Università degli Studi dell’Aquila” – can be viewed on all portal pages and clicking on it gives access to the website’s six macro-areas and to various tools:

Directory: link to a page allowing you to search all permanent staff members and administrative units of the University of L’Aquila. A “Simple search” by entering a surname allows you to access info on that person’s position, department, address, phone number, fax, e-mail and website address. You can also carry out an “Advanced search” by selecting one of three available search paths "Academic Staff", “Technical and Administrative Staff”, “Administrative Units”. The first two allow you to select one or more search terms while the third requires you to enter an Italian term.
How to find us: link to a page allowing you to locate addresses and directions to key units of the University of L’Aquila on Google Maps.
Webmail: page with links to University webmail servers.
Search: link to our portal’s search engine (allowing you to also search other UNIVAQ websites) by entering one or more keywords in the search box and clicking the Enter key or on the icon. You can also use Advanced search operators.

Below the page header you can find:

Print-friendly version: link to get a printable version of the page.
Feedback: link to the form for reporting errors or sending comments and suggestions.
RSS (Really Simple Syndication): service offering users live updated news feeds without having to enter and search the site.
Privacy: link to information on privacy policy and treatment of personal data.
Login: link to login page for authorized users who have access to restricted areas of our portal.

Italian: gives access to the Italian version of our portal.

Commands to make reading easier:

Reduce text size

Increase text size

Graphic version

Text-only version

High visibility

Quick links: menu for rapid access to our portal’s most requested pages.

Weather forecasts: link to weather forecasts provided by CETEMPS (University of L’Aquila Centre of Excellence for the integration of remote sensing techniques and numerical modelling for the early warning of severe meteorological events).
Online services: rapid access to all online services offered by the University of L’Aquila.

The page footer on all portal pages contains:

Top of page: allows you to go back to the top of the page you are on.

Last update: indicates the last time the page you are viewing was updated.
Accessibility and site information: link to info on accessibility and on the structure of our website for easy surfing.
Public relations: link to the page providing our Public Relations Office (URP) contact info.
VAT - IBAN: link to the page containing the University’s VAT Number and Bank Account Code.
Site map: link to the page offering a complete map of the University website.
Other UNIVAQ websites: link to the page providing a list of other University of L’Aquila websites.
Glossary: link to a page with definitions (available in Italian) of administrative and web-terms found in the Italian version of our portal.
Contact us: link to a page providing an e-mail address to report any difficulties found while navigating in our website.
Credits: link to a page providing a list of website staff members and the software used to design this portal.
Copyright, address and phone number of the University of L’Aquila.

Univaq.it portal pages have a three-column setup: on the left of the page users find a drop-down menu allowing them to navigate between the sections and subsections of each macro-area, contents are found in the central column of the page while, on the right-hand column, related pages and documents can be consulted together with latest news and events.

Below the header users can find breadcrumbs showing them the path they have followed to get to the page they are viewing. This allows users to keep track of their locations. Clicking on these links lets users immediately access desired pages.

All pages display title, text and other possible links to different pages of the portal or to other sites and documents. Hypertext links are highlighted in red. Documents found within the portal are mainly in two formats: PDF and Word – both indicated with their corresponding icons. When a linked site or a document opens in new window it is always indicated.

Accessibility

Accessibility is referred to in terms of Law no. 4 of 9^th January 2004 (also known as the “Stanca Act”) providing “Provisions to support the access to information technologies for the disabled” for public administration websites and to Ministerial Decree of 8^th July 2005, Technical requirements and the different levels of accessibility of computer tools (published on the Official Gazette no. 183 on 8^th August 2005). The “Stanca Act” (art. 2.1.a.) defines accessibility as “the capability of computer systems, in accordance with the attained technological knowledge and its limits, to supply services and to provide information which can be availed of, without discrimination, also by those who need supporting technologies or special configurations because of some disability”.

Accessibility was a main objective while designing the Univaq.it website, an objective which was not easy to reach due to the vast quantity and quality of the contents deriving from a wide array of sources and also due to the interactive services offered. In accordance with the guidelines of the W3C Consortium, the general principles specified for the development of an accessible website have been adopted. This portal was developed using beContent framework and XHTML 1.1 and CSS 2.0 technology for content presentation.

Access keys
This site makes use of "access keys", that is to say keyboard shortcuts that make it easier to navigate the site. The following have been activated:
Home = h
To access the HOME PAGE.
University = a
To access UNIVERSITY section.
Teaching = d
To access TEACHING section.
Research = r
To access RESEARCH section.
Students = s
To access STUDENTS section.
Staff = p
To access STAFF section.
Firms & industries = e
To access FIRMS & INDUSTRIES section.

How to use access keys for most browsers and operating systems:

BROWSER WINDOWS	KEY SEQUENCES
Internet Explorer	ALT + access key + ENTER
Mozilla/Firefox	ALT + access key
Firefox 2	ALT + SHIFT + access key
Netscape/Gecko	ALT + access key
Opera	SHIFT + ESC release the keys + access key

BROWSER MACINTOSH	KEY SEQUENCES
Internet Explorer	CTRL + access key + ENTER
Mozilla/Firefox	CTRL + access key
Netscape/Gecko	CTRL + access key
Opera	SHIFT + ESC release the keys + access key

BROWSER LINUX	KEY SEQUENCES
Mozilla/Firefox	ALT + access key
Netscape/Gecko	ALT + access key
Opera	SHIFT + ESC release the keys + access key

You can surf among links also by using TAB and SHIFT + TAB keys.

Restricted areas
Certain pages of our portal can only be accessed by authorized users, these pages are marked with a lock icon.

Download
Many documents on our portal can be downloaded by users (announcements, ranking lists, forms, etc.). Formats are indicated with the following icons:

Icon	Format
	.pdf (Portable Document Format)
	.zip (Compressed File Format)
	.xls (Excel)
	.doc (Word Document)
	.rtf (Rich Text Format)
	.ppt (PowerPoint)
	.jpg (Joint Photographic Experts Group)
	.mpg (Moving Picture Experts Group)
	.wmv (Windows Media Video)