You are in:
Home Page
This page contains hints and tips on how to find and view the
content of this web site.
This site was designed and is maintained by I.T. Services at
Barrow Borough Council. Content is maintained by individual users
on a service led basis. There are relevant contact details at the
bottom of every page.
Barrow Borough Council aim to make this web site as widely
accessible as possible. Our pages use a standard template with
consistent layout and navigation, and much consideration has been
given to the use of colour, text and images. However, the way each
page is created by individual users may cause some inconsistencies.
If you have any problems viewing this site please
let us
know, and if the page cannot be corrected we will arrange for
the information to be sent to you in another format.
In October 2005 we made some
changes to the
Barrow Borough Council web site to bring it more in line with
current technical standards for web site design, and to help us
meet future standards. Our staff had advice and training,
from usability and accessibility consultants
Nomensa, to help us make these
changes.
In October 2006 a Usability Review was conducted, on our
behalf, by
IAS Smarts Interactive. As a
result we are about to review the layout of our web pages. As
a first step towards making the site clearer, we have made
some changes to the fonts and styles used for page content,
headings and hyperlinks.
The web team regularly consults with visitors. You
can
read the
results and how, or whether, we act on feedback
and requests.
Do you need help in making your computer easier to
use?
Ability Net looks at the many ways you can make your keyboard and
mouse, Windows, the internet and your favourite applications suit
you and your needs:
www.abilitynet.org.uk/myway/index.htm
The BBC web site provides advice and help to all those people
who would benefit from making changes to their browser, operating
system, or computer to be able to view bbc.co.uk and the rest of
the web in a more accessible way:
www.bbc.co.uk/accessibility/index.shtml.
GIS - Geographical Information Systems
Barrow Borough Council strives to meet the needs of computer
users with visual impairment or other conditions that limit
accessibility. Unfortunately, due to the graphics-intensive nature
of GIS, this information cannot all be presented in an
accessible format. If you would like assistance with access to this
information please contact gis@barrowbc.gov.uk.
Usability
Usability describes the navigation,
design and page structure of the site.
Navigation
Hyperlinks (links) within content are
highlighted in a contrasting colour or underlined, and will
change colour and/or be underlined when hovered over or focused on
-
Example One -
- Example Two -
Title attributes (descriptions that can be
read by screen readers , or viewed by hovering the mouse over the
link) are used on many of our links, unless the text
of the link already fully describes the target.
Images used as links will have a
descriptive tag on the image as well as a text link.
We will usually warn you when an external site will
open in a new window, new windows are only opened for
Web Forms, Word and PDF files, our "Printer Friendly" page and
areas that do not include our standard navigation menus.
There are keyboard shortcuts for navigating around longer
pages:
Tab - most browsers will cycle through
links on a page by using Tab (two opposing arrows, above Caps Lock
on a standard keyboard).
End - will take you to the bottom of a
page.
Home - will take you to the top of the
page.
Page Down - will scroll the page
down one screen.
Page Up - will scroll the page up one
screen.
The content
on this site is categorised using a list of standard terms
for local authority services and information. There are ten
categories in the main navigation on the left of every page, and
these categories can be selected for a general page on that topic.
The menu will then show all pages within that section:
Business - for all existing and future
businesses, with information on development, planning, licensing
and regeneration.
Community & Living (includes Health,
Social Care and Education)- broader community and
neighbourhood information including local partnerships, community
centres, events, clubs and societies.
Council, Government & Democracy -
how your council works and is elected, contact details for
departments and councillors, strategy and policy, Parish Councils
and adjacent authorities.
Environment - contacts and information
for cleansing, refuse, noise and animal nuisance, planning,
environmental health and local development.
Housing - issues and advice on
council housing and private housing.
Jobs & Careers - local and Council
vacancies, career and employment advice contacts for adults and
young people.
Leisure & Cultural - cultural and
heritage, sporting and community events, local venues and
facilities, information for visitors and residents on how to spend
leisure time in the area.
News - latest and archived news, press
releases and publications from the council.
Policing & Public Safety - emergency
services, weather and environment alerts, local crime
prevention.
Transport & Streets
- information and contacts for travel
enquiries, abandoned cars, concessionary fares and parking in the
area.
"Search this site..."
- If you are not sure where to find the page you
are looking for try typing a word or phrase into our "Search this
site..." box, available in the top right of every page. Select the
GO button and a list of relevant pages will be displayed. Select
the title to view the page.
"The Quicklink"
navigation menu will take you straight to key pages such as
Job Vacancies and Council Departments. Select a page using the
dropdown box and then select GO to view that page.
"Site Map"
lists all content pages by navigation structure.
"A to Z"
lists content pages by alphabetical listing.
A "Breadcrumb trail"
in the main content area (e.g. Business > Planning
Applications > Weekly Planning Applications) will show your
place in the navigation structure. This can be used to navigate
back through the categories by selecting each part of the
trail.
"Printer Friendly"
will generate a new window that shows only the main content
of a page in a format that will print well.
A "skip to content"
link, in the code at the top left of every page, is to
aid users of accessibility programs, such as screen readers, to
avoid listing all navigation items and go straight to the content
of a page.
The Council makes use of the ability to download documents to
your computer. There are clear advantages to this for larger
documents as they can be downloaded and read 'off-line' (without
being connected to the internet) and printed out if required.
Most downloads are in Adobe's Portable Document Format (PDF).
This document format is consistent no matter what your browser,
computer or set-up.
Adobe also has a version of this reader, Acrobat Reader 5.1
for Windows with Search and Accessibility, on their
access pages (
access.adobe.com) that includes
support for screen readers.
Accessibility
Accessibility describes features and aids
for users who may have difficulty viewing or accessing the default
page design.
Jump To: Navigation for Accessibility |
Text Size | Scripting.
Barrow Borough Council aims to comply with accessibility
guidelines based upon the World Wide Web Consortium's Web
Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG). WCAG defines three
levels of checkpoint priority.
All our pages should meet the AA standard (Double A meaning
conformance to Priority 1 and 2 checkpoints) of these
guidelines.
Most pages on this site should now validate to XHTML 1.0
Transitional, as defined by the W3C (see Related Information). This means that the
page has been designed in a way that makes it work with no
errors on most modern browsers.
A "skip to content"
link, in the code at the top left of every page, is to
aid users of accessibility programs, such as screen readers, who
wish to avoid listing all navigation items and go straight to the
content of a page.
Title attributes
(descriptions that can be read by screen readers or viewed by
hovering the mouse over the link) are used on many of our
links, unless the text of the link already fully
describes the target.
Images
used as links will have a descriptive tag on the image as
well as a text link.
We will usually warn you when an external site will
open in a new window
, but we are currently changing our site so that new windows are
only opened for Web Forms, Word and PDF files, and our "Printer
Friendly" page.
There are keyboard shortcuts for navigating around longer
pages:
Tab - most browsers will cycle through
links on a page by using Tab (two opposing arrows, above Caps Lock
on a standard keyboard).
End - will take you to the bottom of a
page.
Home - will take you to the top of the
page.
Page Down - will scroll the page
down one screen.
Page Up - will scroll the page up one
screen.
Text Size:
we us
e relative text sizing where possible. This means
that if you are having difficulty reading the text you can increase
the size by following the appropriate instructions
below.
Users with a Scroll Wheel Mouse on Windows
Systems:
Holding down the "Ctrl" key (on the bottom
left of the keyboard) while scrolling the mouse wheel, will change
the text size.
Mac users:
You can hold down the "command" key (the one with the apple
logo on it) and press the keys '+' or '-' to increase or decrease
your font size, respectively.
Browser Type: Microsoft Internet
Explorer
Select View from the menu at the top of the window.
Choose Text size.
Another menu should appear listing Smallest to Largest.
Select appropriately.
Browser Type: Mozilla Firefox
Select View from the menu at the top of the window.
Choose Text Size.
Another menu should appear listing Increase, Decrease or
Normal.
Select appropriately.
You can also use: Ctrl++ to increase, Ctrl-- to decrease and
Ctrl 0 to reset to default text size.
Browser Type: Netscape Navigator
Select View
from the menu at the top of the window.
Click Increase Font
The text in your browser window should now appear larger.
Repeat until the text is at the desired size.
Browser Type: Opera
Select View from the menu at the top of the window.
Choose Zoom.
Select a percentage.
Repeat until the text is at the desired size.
n.b. this will increase the size of all the elements on page.
To alter only the text size use:
File > Preferences > Fonts and colours.
Change the fonts and colours of the text and links, background
colour, and minimum text size to a style that better suits
you.
Browser Type: Mozilla/Netscape 7
Select View from the menu at the top of the window.
Choose Text Zoom, and choose a
suitable text size.
Browser Type: Safari
Select View from the menu at the top of the window.
Choose "Make Text Bigger" or "Make Text Smaller".
Forms and Scripting
Wherever possible, device-independent event handlers (e.g. not
dependant on mouse clicks) have been implemented so that use of the
mouse is not required.
Get Safe Online Web Site Launched
Get Safe Online will help you protect yourself against
internet threats. The site is sponsored by government and leading
businesses working together to provide a free, public
service.
"To help the public educate themselves, the Get Safe Online
campaign will raise public awareness of the issues and provide
solutions through a new website:
www.getsafeonline.org. The
website is a one-stop-shop for reliable, up-to-date information
about online safety, to give home users and small businesses the
advice they need to use the Internet safely. "
|
Related Information
Information on the standards set by the Government for public
sector web sites:
We have collected some general advice
for organisations or groups who are considering
commissioning a web site. The advice can also be applied to
existing web sites as it highlights the current standards and
guidelines that all web designers should be aware of.
The document is available for download as a Word document and
a pdf:
back to top