We want everyone to be able to use Peace Education Scotland’s resources, whatever device, browser or assistive technology they use. This page explains how our materials and website are built to support that, and points you to free tools that can help.
Our Resources
Our resources are published mainly as PDF files, so they display consistently on any device, PC, Mac, Linux, Chromebook, tablet or phone. Some resources are also available as Word (DOCX) or PowerPoint (PPTX) files.
You don’t need to buy any software to open these. Free options include:
- LibreOffice – a free, open-source office suite for Windows, Mac and Linux that opens PDF, DOCX, PPTX and XLSX files
- Adobe Acrobat Reader – free PDF viewer for Windows and Mac, with a built-in Read Aloud feature
- Foxit PDF Reader – free, fast and lightweight, cross-platform PDF viewer
- Preview – built into every Mac, opens PDF and image files with no download needed
- Google Docs, Sheets and Slides – free, works in any web browser, and opens Word, Excel and PowerPoint files directly
- Microsoft Word, Excel and PowerPoint (free web versions) – browser-based versions of Microsoft Office, no subscription needed
Most mobile devices can also open PDFs and Office files natively, without installing anything extra.
Our PDFs are built to work with screen readers and text-to-speech tools, including Read Aloud in Adobe Reader, VoiceOver on Mac and iOS, Narrator on Windows, and free tools like NVDA.
Features of this website
Descriptive link text
Links on this site are written to make sense on their own, rather than as “click here” or “read more”. This means anyone using a screen reader can jump between links and understand where each one leads without needing the surrounding text.
Meaningful alt text on images
Images that carry information have alt text describing their content, so users of screen readers, and anyone browsing with images turned off, can still access what the image conveys. Purely decorative images are given blank alt text, so assistive technology can skip over them.
Responsive design
The site adjusts automatically to the size of your screen, so it works whether you’re on a phone, tablet or desktop, without needing to zoom or scroll sideways.
Structured headings
Pages use proper heading levels (not just bold text), which lets screen reader users navigate a page’s structure and jump straight to the section they need.
Adjusting your browser or device
Most accessibility adjustments, such as text size, contrast, colour filters and zoom, are best made through your device or browser’s own settings, rather than site by site. These are built into every modern operating system and browser, and they’ll apply consistently across every website you visit, not just ours.
- On Windows: Settings > Accessibility
- On Mac: System Settings > Accessibility
- On iPhone/iPad: Settings > Accessibility
- On Android: Settings > Accessibility
- Most browsers (Chrome, Edge, Firefox, Safari) let you set a minimum text size and zoom level in their settings menu, and support browser-level “Reader” views that strip a page back to plain text
For a detailed, regularly updated guide to setting up your specific device or browser, we’d recommend AbilityNet’s My Computer My Way, a free, independent resource covering vision, hearing, motor and cognitive accessibility across all major platforms.
Get in touch
If you’re having trouble accessing any resource or part of this website, or if you need a resource in a different format, please contact us and we’ll do our best to help.