We always make sure that our website follows accessibility best practices by following the principles of universal design. This ensures the site is flexible and adaptable to different users’ needs or preferences and is accessible through a variety of different technologies, including mobile devices or assistive technologies.
We want as many people as possible to be able to use this website. For example, that means you should be able to change colors, contrast levels and fonts, zoom in up to 500% without the text spilling off the screen—that surely took a while to manage lol, navigate most of the website using just a keyboard, navigate most of the website using speech recognition software, listen to most of the website using a screen reader (including the most recent versions of JAWS, NVDA and VoiceOver). We’ve also made the website text as simple as possible to understand. AbilityNet has advice on making your device easier to use if you have a disability.
The Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) defines requirements for designers and developers to improve accessibility for people with disabilities. It defines three levels of conformance: Level A, Level AA, and Level AAA. Our website is partially conformant with WCAG 2.1 level AA. Partially conformant means that some parts of the content do not fully conform to the accessibility standard.
How to zoom in your screen
Some people like to zoom into the screen or web browser in order to see things better. Here are a few ways of doing it depending on your setup:
On Windows, press the Windows key and plus sign (+) at the same time to zoom in. You can also use the "Magnifier" application under "Accessories".
On Mac, go to "System Preferences", open "Universal Access" and select the "Seeing" tab. Check the box under "Zoom" to "On".
On your Apple device, tap "Settings", then "General", then "Accessibility". Tap the "Zoom" button and toggle it "On".
Another trick is to use "Ctrl" ("Cmd" on Mac) plus the plus (+) or minus (-) keys when you're in a web browser.
How to change the colors or fonts on the page
Some people like to change colors or fonts to see words more clearly. Most major web browsers have options to do this:
In Internet Explorer, go to "Tools", then "Internet Options", on to "General". From here, select "Colors, Fonts, or Accessibility".
In Mozilla Firefox, choose "Options", then "Content", then finally "Fonts & Colors".
In Safari, select "Preferences", "Appearance" tab, and then hit the "Select…" button next to the font fields.
In Chrome, go to "Preferences", activate the "Show advanced settings" link, go to the "Web content" heading and change the "Font size", "Customize fonts" in other ways, or set default "Page zoom".
We recommend a mixture of settings like enlarging font size and zooming into the browser for a better experience.
How to find and use a screen reader
Screen readers are text-to-speech software that allow people to read and interact with content in different ways. Many people who cannot perceive what is on the screen will use them to allow audible access to web content. Capital One designs and codes for accessibility. We strive to ensure that our content is accessible to screen readers.
There are free options available including NVDA for Windows and VoiceOver for Mac. What we recommend is JAWS for Windows. You can use this with your favorite web browser.
Screen readers accept input in a variety of ways, but one of the most common forms is through your keyboard. By pressing the down arrow in JAWS, for example, you are able navigate through items on the page. JAWS will also accept Braille input.
How to use accessibility tools on mobile
There are a lot of great features right on your smartphone. iOS and Android alike provide many tools to help you access what you love. Let’s have a look at a few of those tools:
VoiceOver for iOS: With VoiceOver—a gesture-based screen reader—you can use iPhone even if you can’t see the screen. VoiceOver gives audible descriptions of what’s on your screen—from battery level, to who’s calling, to which app your finger is on. You can also adjust the speaking rate and pitch to suit your needs. To set up VoiceOver on your iPhone, please refer to this page Turn on and practice VoiceOver on iPhone. "Zoom", "Magnifier", "Invert Colors", "Color Filters", and "Reduce White Point" are other features and tools on iOS that you can use. These are also available through the “Accessibility Shortcut”.
TalkBack for Android: The TalkBack screen reader speaks text and image content on your screen. On your Android device, you can turn this setting on or off. To set up TalkBack on your Android device, please refer to this page Turn TalkBack on or off.