Search our website
Key in a search term below to search our website.
Key in a search term below to search our website.
An image of a vintage computer from our collection.
An image of a vintage computer from our collection.
This accessibility statement applies to the following National Museums Scotland websites for which the Board of Trustees of National Museums Scotland is responsible.
We want as many people as possible to be able to use this website. For example, that means you should be able to:
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.
If you need information on this website in a different format like accessible PDF, large print, easy read, audio recording or braille, or you would like to ask anything or tell us anything about the accessibility of our websites:
We’ll consider your request and get back to you in no more than 5 working days in line with our standards of service.
The Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) is responsible for enforcing the Public Sector Bodies (Websites and Mobile Applications) (No. 2) Accessibility Regulations 2018 (the ‘accessibility regulations’). If you’re not happy with how we respond to your complaint, you can contact the Equality Advisory and Support Service (EASS).
National Museums Scotland is committed to making its website accessible, in accordance with the Public Sector Bodies (Websites and Mobile Applications) (No. 2) Accessibility Regulations 2018.
This website is partially compliant with the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines version 2.1 AA standard, due to the non-compliances and exemptions listed below.
The content listed below is non-accessible for the following reasons.
Some of our older PDFs and Word documents do not meet accessibility standards – for example, they may not be structured so they are accessible to a screen reader. This doesn't meet WCAG 2.1 success criterion 4.1.2 (name, role value).
We plan to resolve this issue by 30 August 2024.
Navigation menu
When increasing browser font sizing by 200%, featured links in the drop down menus are no longer available.
At 400% zoom and in mobile view (320x256), featured links in the drop down menus such as our organisation and schools are no longer available.
We’ve assessed the cost of fixing the issues with navigation. We believe that doing so now would be a disproportionate burden within the meaning of the accessibility regulations.
We are currently in the process of redesigning our website and when launching the new website, this will no longer be an issue. We expect the launch the new website by 30 August 2024.
PDFs and other documents
The accessibility regulations do not require us to fix PDFs or other documents published before 23 September 2018 if they’re not essential to providing our services. For example, we do not plan to fix the Transcript of the letter from Mary, Queen of Scots.
Any new PDFs or Word documents we publish will meet accessibility standards.
National Museums Scotland operates websites that were developed at different times using different technologies. We are committed to improving the accessibility of our websites so that they are accessible to all. We are working hard to achieve that, but it will take some time due to the scale and complexity of the task.
We are currently redeveloping our website. As part of this, we are auditing all of our content, design, and documents for compliance with WCAG 2.2 AA or higher. This includes using a range of tools and services including accessibility consultancy, user testing, and automated scanning tools to identify areas to improve.
We are also:
This statement was prepared on 3 August 2021. It was last reviewed on 20 February 2024.
This website was last tested on 1 May 2021 against the WCAG 2.1 AA standard.
Following a number of recent developments focussed on improving the accessibility of the National Museums Scotland websites, we are currently re-assessing the accessibility of the website through a combination of manual and automated testing. We are following the WCAG Evaluation Methodology using a representative sample of pages for manual assessment and Sortsite for automated testing.