site help

Web sites should be simple and intuitive to use. But sometimes it's a good idea to provide a Help Page to explain particular features of the site's design, navigation or facilities.

The Syntactic site has the following usability and accessibility features.

• A site map, available from every page, provides a navigation alternative to the main site contents on the Home Page.
• On big screens, the body text is given a maximum width to maintain its readability. The text is right-justified.
• All pages can be printed for reference, if users wish (the text doesn't get truncated on the right, as happens with some sites). The on-screen menu isn't needed on printed pages, so users of most browsers will find that the printed version of pages contains just the body text and not the menus. Printing is therefore quicker.
• Images have alternative text, where appropriate, for users with images switched off and for vision-impaired users (using screen readers etc).
• Links have tooltips, giving a brief description of where the link goes, unless the link text is already clear. Most browsers display these when the link is selected (e.g. hovered over by the mouse).