This webpage was updated on August 18, 2023

Accessibility


Website Accessibility Certification
(7/01/2023)

The California Natural Resources Agency is committed to making our website equally accessible for all visitors. The undersigned certify that, as of July 1, 2023, the Internet website of the Ocean Protection Council is designed, developed, and maintained to comply with applicable accessibility laws including California Government Code Sections 7405 and 11135, and the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG). If you have difficulty accessing any material on our website, please contact us and we will correct the problem or work to provide the information in an alternative format. You can report web accessibility problems by sending an email to accessibility@resources.ca.gov.

Kevin See
Chief Information Officer

Kaitlyn Kalua
Deputy Director, OPC

Download the signed copy of the certification (PDF).

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 800 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.
  • Access Keys
    Access keys are keyboard shortcuts that help you get around the site.

    • Use “Alt” + “S” to access search box
  • 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

Change CSS

  • Below is the step-by-step instructions 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