Access Guide
The Newark and Sherwood District Council Website provides a comprehensive source of information about the Council and its services, and serves to promote Newark and Sherwood as an innovative and interesting area to live, visit and work.
The website has been designed to be as accessible to as many users as possible.
The site can be navigated in the following ways:
1.Using the global site navigation which appear at the top of every page:
Home will always link you to the Newark and Sherwood District Council Homepage.
A to Z Index provides details in alphabetical order of the Council Services you are interested in.
News will provide you with a list of all recent press releases and news articles issued by the Council.
Events will provide you with a comprehensive list of current local events.
Site Map provides an overview of the website structure and links to content areas.
Contact Us links to our contact details including address, telephone, e-mail and feedback information.
2. Using the content navigation menus (quick links) to link to the main content sections of the site and the most popular pages such as Leisure Centres or Jobs.
3. Some pages also have an extra content menu, to allow you to navigate the sections or specific topics of interest within the subject area currently being viewed.
4. You can also access the website using one of our shorter web addresses, for example, www.newark-sherwooddc.gov.uk/pollution
The design of our website includes a number of accessibility features including:
- TEXT ONLY VERSION
- AUDIO VERSION
- LANGUAGE TRANSLATION
- ACCESS KEYS
- DOWNLOADED DOCUMENTS
- VIDEO AND AUDIO
- FEEDBACK
Our website can be viewed as text only. This provides a web user with a simple and clean version of the website without pictures and with options as to how the pages are displayed. People who suffer with visual impairments may find the text only version easier to view and navigate. The text only version of the site has been made in line with the BBC betsie programme. More information can be found on their website http://www.bbc.co.uk/education/betsie/
To aid users of text only browsers we have included an accessibility feature that enables the user to 'skip over' the main page navigation buttons. The web user can then jump immediately down to the main content of the page.
If you find the text on the site too small to read you can make this appear larger by going to view on your browser, selecting text size and changing it to larger or largest. However, please bear in mind that this may distort the page slightly.
You can listen to our website being read aloud. This service is provided by Browsealoud and is available to anyone who can listen to audio. This service is aimed at users of the site who find it difficult to read the information on screen. For more on using Browsealoud
The entire website can be translated from English into one of eleven languages using the free facilities provided by Babel Fish. For more on using translations
Accessibility About the site Using the Site Accessibility Features
We aim to make our website usable for all our community by following standards developed by the World Wide Web Consortium who rate accessible sites from Level A to Level AAA. We have followed government guidelines to develop our site and plan to improve it over the coming years to make it more accessible to all users. Our aim is to enable customers to access services and information in a way that does not disadvantage them whatever their access or ability needs.
We acknowledge that we have not achieved all of our aims in this area and we will continue to develop our site to provide the highest standards we are able within the available means. We aim to meet the World Wide Web Consortium 's (W3C) Web Accessibility Initiative Level AAA as soon as we are able dependent on budget and resources.
You will find details of the website's accessibility features, and practical steps to help you configure your browser to the settings that are best for you, in our accessibility information.
Access keys help some uses with visual or physical impairments to navigate through a website.
Not only is this a useful tool for some sections of our community but can also be a quick and easy way for everyone to navigate our website.
Below is a list of the access keys (short cuts to main parts of the site) that can be used on our website.
Alt + 1 Home page
Alt + 2 Skip Navigation
Alt + 3 A to Z
Alt + 4 Search
Alt + 5 Jobs
Alt + 6 Planning Services
Alt + 7 Leisure Centres
Alt + 8 Environment
Alt + 9 Customer Comments Feedback
Alt + 0 Access Guide
To use the access keys
- Press and hold down the alt key
- Press the required number for the section you want to visit
- Press the return / enter key and let the browser do the rest
Visual Impairment
If you find the text on the site too small to read you can make this appear larger by going to view on your browser, selecting text size and changing it to larger or largest. However, please bear in mind that this may distort the page slightly.
There are a range of documents available on the website for off-line use. The documents come in a variety of formats including Adobe Acrobat PDF, Microsoft Word, Power Point and Excel. For some of these you may need a third party plug-in to be able to view them. Listed below are document viewers that are free to download and use.
Audio and video
We are currently developing a range of video and audio files for our website. Where this is available you may need to download a media player to enable you to view the film.
Images
All appropriate pictures and images used in this site include descriptive ALT attributes (text descriptions).
Complex images and interactive images include descriptive alternate text to explain the significance of each image to non-visual readers.
Feedback
You can email us at webteam@nsdc.info
Finally, we really do value your views about our services. If you have any comments or suggestions about any aspect of our service or your visit to this website, please let us know.
Newark and Sherwood District Council
Kelham Hall
Kelham
Newark
Nottinghamshire
NG23 5QX
Telephone : 01636 655392
Email : webteam@nsdc.info
Last updated : 07/04/2010 09:18:45