Accesibility

The Banco de España is committed to making its corporate portal accessible to all, including people with a disability, regardless of the browsing context, in compliance with the provisions of Ley de Services de la Sociedad de la Información y de Comercio Electrónico (103 KB) . Therefore, it is completely updating its website content at www.bde.es/webbde/ in order to make access as universal as possible.

The new design of www.bde.es/webbde/ aims to achieve the double A (AA) level of accessibility, in accordance with those Pautas de Accesibilidad al Contenido en la Web 1.0 established by the W3C  . The World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) is an international association comprising various organisations, personnel and the general public, who work together to develop standards which promote and disseminate best practices in web development.

This website aims to be accessible to everyone under equal conditions. Nonetheless, if you encounter any difficulty or wish to make a comment or suggestion, please do not hesitate to contact us by e-mailing webmaster@bde.es  .

Main improvements implemented

• Font sizes are relative , allowing users to increase or decrease the size of text according to their visual needs.
• The images and tables contained in the pages provide a brief description of the information they contain. As a result, users of screen readers or text-only browsers can better understand the meaning of an image in a text and can use the summary to quickly assess whether the information is of interest to them.
• The main language of each page is identified, in addition to any changes in the natural language of the text. This allows users of screen readers and speech synthesisers to handle and understand the text more easily.
• The pages have a more logical internal structure , which allows users of screen readers or browsers such as Opera to access content more quickly.
• The XHTML code and CSS used adapt to the grammar approved by the W3C  thus ensuring that different browsers and platforms display content correctly.
• The information has been separated from its graphic presentation so that those users who wish may browse the content faster by disabling the option for downloading style sheets in their browser.

Display

We recommend a minimum screen resolution of 1024 x 768 pixels. Nonetheless, the font sizes have been defined using relative units in order to allow font size to be increased or decreased from the browser options.

Current status

We are working to make all pages of Banco de España's corporate website accessible. In general, this accessibility statement affects all pages contained in the domain www.bde.es/webbde/.

Where am I?

A route indicator has been incorporated to guide users; this locates the page being viewed in relation to the hierarchy of the website content and also allows the various levels of content to be browsed through links. For example, if the user is at the page containing the history of the Banco de España, located in the About us section, the content of the browser indicator will be as follows: Home > About us > From the Banco de San Carlos to the Banco de España

Also, with the aim of facilitating the user's location, each section has its own set of colours which are applied to the following elements: background of the main page header, which corresponds to the name of the section, the icon of the non-organised lists, and the background of the header Related information in the right column, as can be seen in the following image:

Web Map

The pages of www.bde.es/webbde/ link to the Web Map section, which can be accessed using the Web map link in the upper browser menu of the website. This section provides an overview of the structure of the Banco de España corporate website and can be used to access any of its sections.

Headers

The first page header (marked with H1 label) indicates the name of the section in question. This is followed by a second-level header (H2 label) indicating the name of the page itself. Depending on the case, a third-level header may also be displayed (H3 label), etc. The correct XHTML mark-up of headers helps users with impaired vision or motor disability to move faster around the content of the website document. For example, JAWS users can use the INSERT + F6 key combination to access all page headers.

Images

Informative images include explanatory texts through the “alt” attribute, which summarises the content to be transmitted to users of screen readers or voice browsers. The decorative images have been incorporated by means of the website's style sheets.

Font size

The pages of www.bde.es/webbde/ use relative font sizes so that users may increase or decrease the size of the text using their browser options. These options are normally available in the View menu, Text size option, or directly through the Control (CRTL) + key combination to increase the size or the Control (CRTL) - key combination to decrease it. It is also possible to hold down the Control (CTRL) key while moving the mouse wheel up or down.

Links

In cases where the text of the link does not sufficiently describe its content, titles have been used (“title” attribute) to provide more information on the destination of the link. New browser windows do not open without prior warning to users. Therefore, this icon is always used , with the text Link in a new window in the “alt” attribute so that users of screen readers or voice browsers are also aware of this information.

Acronyms and abbreviations

The acronyms and abbreviations used at www.bde.es/webbde/ have been semantically marked to describe their meaning when they are first displayed on-screen. This benefits both users of non-visual browsers, who can quickly identify each acronym or abbreviation in the document and learn its meaning, as well as users of visual browsers who gain contextual information, as can be seen in the image.

Tables

The www.bde.es/webbde/ portal only uses tables to show table data which are labelled with “scope” or “id” attributes to allow non-visual browsers to associate table headers with their respective rows and to relate the information to the captions (CAPTION label) and to the summaries of their content (“summary” attribute), thereby making them easier to understand.

The new design of www.bde.es/webbde/ aims to achieve the double A (AA) level of accessibility in compliance with those Pautas de Accesibilidad al Contenido en la Web 1.0 established by the W3C  , together with certain pointers and guidelines for triple A (AAA) to improve final accessibility.

In addition to the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines, the XHTML 1.0 standard has been adopted for the mark-up of the content and cascading style sheets (CSS) for the visual design. As far as possible, the use of proprietary technology has been avoided as it restricts the use of certain apparatus or browsers. These standards ensure access to information using any browsing device which supports the recommendations of the W3C

Should users access the portal through a browser which does not support style sheets, the structural mark-up allows all content to be correctly displayed. It is also possible to browse when Javascript is not activated.

• Accessibility guidelines : All pages endeavour to meet (at least) all the checkpoints of priority levels 1 and 2 of the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 1.0. This is equivalent to a double A (AA) level of compliance according to the accessibility standards stipulated by current legislation.
• Structure: The pages of the website have been validated as XHTML 1.0 Transitional.
• Presentation: The visual presentation of the pages has been defined with style sheets in CSS, which have been validated to the CSS 2 specification.
• If, despite all efforts, you should find a page on this website which does not meet the specified standards, please e-mail webmaster@bde.es  , so that we can review and rectify the error.

Other formats used

• PDF: Most information on the Banco de España corporate website is in standard XHTML format; it can therefore be accessed by all users. However, there are also many documents in Adobe Acrobat®, the popular PDF (Portable Document Format), which is generally used to preserve the content and layout of printed documents and publications. PDF documents (.pdf extension) can only be viewed with Adobe Acrobat Reader®, which can be downloaded free of charge at sitio web de Adobe . We recommend you use Adobe Acrobat Reader® 6.0 or a later version.
• Flash: The website contains dynamic content in Adobe Flash® (.swf extension) which can only be viewed with Adobe Flash Player®. This can be downloaded free of charge at página de descargas del reproductor Flash 
• Word: Some online documents at www.bde.es/webbde/ are in Microsoft Word® (.doc extension) and can be viewed directly if any version of Microsoft Word is installed in your computer. Many other word processors also read this format. Microsoft also offers a free Word document viewer, which can be downloaded at página de Word Viewer
• Excel: Part of the online documentation at www.bde.es/webbde/ is in Microsoft Excel® (.xls, .csv extensions) and can be viewed directly if you have Microsoft Excel installed in your computer. If you do not have this software, Microsoft provides a free Excel document viewer, which can be downloaded at página de Excel Viewer. For statistical data files published in .csv format, please consult the viewer recommendations for CSV files .
• PowerPoint: The website also has documents in Microsoft Power Point® (.ppt, .pps extensions) which can be viewed directly with any version of Microsoft PowerPoint installed in your computer. At página de Power Point Viewer  Microsoft provides a free PowerPoint document viewer which can be downloaded free of charge.
• ZIP: ZIP documents (.zip extension) are opened using the file compression and decompression programme WinZip®, although there are also similar programmes which support this same format. Should this software not be installed in your computer, it can be downloaded at versión de evaluación de WinZip  .

Multibrowser support

Browsers supported and share

Browser family	Support level	Share percentage
IE 6.0 and 7.0 for Windows	100% supported	75.07 %
Firefox 1.5, Firefox 2.0 and Firefox 3.0.1	100% supported	12.86%
Netscape 7.x and later	supported	0.09%
Netscape 7.0	partly supported	0.12%
Opera 9	supported	0.30%

Definition of support levels

• Browser 100% supported: The presentation, display of content, navigation and functionality are optimal.
• Browser supported: The display of content, navigation and functionality are the same as for the "browser 100% supported", but with a minimum degradation of the presentation layer.
• Browser partly supported : The display of content, navigation and functionality are the same as for the "browser 100% supported", but with a slight degradation of the presentation layer which must never affect the display of content.