Norwich City Council

Help Page

This section can be accessed from most of the pages on the website and contains useful information and guidance on how to use and make the most of this website. The areas covered here include:

Useful links

WAI Guidelines
RNIB
Adobe Software

Viewing the site

The Norwich City Council website has been designed for the widest possible audience.

The site is designed to work on a number of platforms with a wide range of browsers including Netscape, Firefox and Internet Explorer - free updates for these browsers can be downloaded from their websites.

We recommend that you view the site with your screen resolution set to at least 800 x 600 pixels.

Changing the size of the screen text

You can alter the size of the screen text to make it easier to read as follows:

If you use Internet Explorer, go to the View menu on the top bar of the browser, select Text Size and choose either larger, largest, smaller, smallest.

If you use Firefox, go to the View menu, select Text Size and then select Increase. You can have the same effect by using the keyboard and press the keys Ctrl and '+' at the same time.

If you use Netscape, go to View and select Text zoom and choose your preferred text size.

Searching the site

The search facility appears on the top right hand side of the page below the main header and allows you to type in a keyword or words that you wish to search for throughout the whole site.

Another option to search for information is by using the sitemap. The link for this is found at the bottom of the page in the footer and enables you to view the content of all the sections and access the relevant page directly.

If you just want to search for the council services use the A-Z of services link, located in the main header bar and in thre right hand section of the website where all services are listed alphabetically.

Navigating the site

The site can be navigated in the following ways:

  • The main header menu bar at the top of each page links to the home page, A-Z of services, Do it online (where you can access online services such as payments), and the contact us page, where you can contact us in a nukmer of ways.
  • The left hand main section links and quick links are persistant throughout the site and link to council sections which are most frequently used.
  • The right hand column will appear throughout the site although the latest news headlines are only available on the home page. The useful links directly link to external websites or council partnerships. Both these columns may change from time to time linking to new or updated areas of interest.
  • Below the main navigation bar on the left hand side of the page is the breadcrumb trail which provides the route that the user has taken through the site and consequently shows the context of the current page. For example, where a user has navigated to the jobs page via the home and A-Z of services, the breadcrumb trail will show as follows:

    Home > City Council > Jobs@Norwich City Council

    You can choose to navigate back to any level of the trail by selecting the appropriate page.
  • Some pages contain hyperlinks which link to either a related area within the site, an external website or a downloadable document. If a linked page is an external website a new window will open – this can be closed down to return to the original page.
  • To return to a previous page within the website select the back button on the browser ‘s menu bar or click the right hand button on the mouse and select ‘back’.
  • If at anytime you get lost then click on the home button either from the breadcrumb trail or from the main header bar at the top of the page.

Printing

To print a page select Print from the File menu on the top left of the browser menu.

To print part of the page, highlight the text and/or image that you require, use the Print command and choose the ‘Selection’ option.

Accessing PDF documents

PDF (Portable Document Format files) files enable large and complex documents to be accessed electronically. The downloadable files on this site are in Adobe Acrobat format and require a PDF reader to view the files. If this software is not installed on your computer you can download it, for free, from the Adobe Website

On the Adobe website there is an online form which can be used to convert a PDF document into text by submitting the URL (website address) of the pdf. Click here

Those who are visually impaired may have difficulty reading PDF files using screen reader software, however, the website access.adobe.com has been designed to make it easier to access and read PDFs.

Accessibility Features

ALT text

All images have meaningful alternative text to ensure that if the website is viewed as text only or by someone with visual impairment using enhancing software the contents can be interpreted correctly.

Screen resolution

This website is best viewed with a screen resolution of 800 x 600 pixels. If you need to change the resolution of your screen click on the start button (bottom left hand corner of the screen, go to settings and choose control panel on the drop down. Double click on the display icon and choose settings at the top of the window. In the screen area section use the sliding button to move to the various screen sizes ie. 640 x 480, 800 x 600 or 1024 x 768 or 1152 x 865. Click OK to see the screen reconfigure and then decide whether to keep or revert back to original resolution.

Contacting the council

The contact us link in the main header and in the main sections column on the left hand side of the page provide a range of wasy for youto contact us. The council’s address and contact details also appear at the bottom of each page. To send an email click on the email address.

Norwich City Council provides British Sign language interpreters and lip-speakers for users of council services. Please click here to go to the interpretation and translation page for more information.

Minicoms and loop systems are used in some council offices.

Council documents and publications

For the benefit of people with a sight impairment all council publications can be made available in formats such as large print audiotape and braille. For more information please contact: Communications@norwich.gov.uk