A to Z of services: A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

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Help

 

Viewing web pages, documents and forms

Most of our pages (and the information stored on them) are displayed in standard HTML format and should be readily viewable by any web browser. 

Some information has also been offered in other formats such as PDF (Portable Document Format), Microsoft Word or Microsoft Excel. To view this information you may need some additional software for you computer that you can download (i.e. copy to your computer) for free on the Internet. 

For PDF files you will need Acrobat Reader supplied by Adobe. Wherever a PDF option has been given, you will see the logo: PDF Logo
Download Acrobat Reader External Link

For Microsoft Word will need Word Viewer supplied by Microsoft. Wherever a Microsoft Word option has been given, you will see the logo: Word Icon
Download Word Viewer External Link

For Microsoft Excel you will need Excel Viewer supplied by Microsoft. Wherever a Microsoft Excel option has been given, you will see the logo: Excel Icon
Download Excel Viewer External Link

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ReadSpeaker

To help improve the accessibility of our website we use the ReadSpeaker XT software. This software, when activated, will read aloud the content and links of a web page including documents in PDF and Word formats.

ReadSpeaker XT does not require any downloads, installation or plug-ins of software and works on most computers including PC/Windows, Mac, Linux and SUN. ReadSpeaker XT supports most browsers including Internet Explorer (IE), Netscape, Opera, Safari, Mozilla and Lynx.

All that is required is a live internet connection, browser and speakers (or headphones). ReadSpeaker XT will work on slower connections (33k modem and up).

Click the following links to start ReadSpeaker or view the ReadSpeaker help page.

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Download and saving documents and forms

When you wish to download and save a document (or form) right click the hyperlink and click on 'Save Target As' from the drop down menu. If you left click the connection you will load that file to your browser for immediate viewing. 

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Navigation : Finding your way around our website

The site has been designed to make it easy to find your way about. Information has also been categorised with you in mind - where you expect to find them rather than how the Council provides it.

There are 13 main categories of information upon our website. These are depicted within 'buttons' on the Home Page and repeated at the top of every page throughout the website.

Once past the Home Page, other common links are provided at the top of every web page. These include a link back to the Home Page, a link to an A-Z of Services as well as a Search, Feedback, Site Help and Site Index facilities. 

Furthermore, at the top of each 'article' upon each web page you will find a notation explaining which part of the site you are currently in with links back to the 'parent' sections (as appropriate).

Therefore, no matter where you are on our website you should never get lost and assistance is always just a click of the mouse away.

We would like to think this makes our website extremely easy to use. However, please let us know if you have any difficulties in finding your way around.

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Navigational Buttons

We have tried to adopt a policy whereby you should be able to get to the information you require within 3 clicks of a mouse. What this really means is that we tried to minimise providing multiple levels of information. However, this has not been possible in all instances.

On some pages within our site, you will see navigational button(s) in the left hand margin of a web page. This will take you down to the next level of information upon another web page.

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Bookmarks

We have also tried to adopt a policy of providing information in bite-sized chunks making it easier to read and digest. However, this has not always been possible. Whereby, pages unavoidably contain a lot of information, 'bookmark links' are provided at the top of each page to taking you directly to the subject matter that you choose.

Where 'bookmark links' are used you will also see a 'back to top' link that will take you back to the top of the current web page without the need to scroll.

Site Help is typical of a bookmarked page.

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Links to external websites

Sometimes, to provide you with better in-depth information, you will find a link from our web pages to an external website. We have indicated such links by a External Link symbol and, upon clicking on the link, the external website will be opened in a new window on your computer. Consequently, your link to the Council's website remains open until you choose otherwise.

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Favourite Pages

If you want to keep a link in your 'favourites' menu to any of our pages, you can do so by creating a bookmark straight to that page.

In Microsoft Internet Explorer: 'Favourites' ---> 'Add to favourites' from the menu option.
In Netscape Navigator: 'Bookmarks' ---> 'Add Bookmarks'.

You can either just use the default page title so you know what the bookmark is when you next come back to it, or you can rename the bookmark anything you wish.

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Translation

If you would like to have any pages on our site translated, try http://babelfish.altavista.com/ External Link

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Controlling text and colours in your web browser

If you use the Internet Explorer or Netscape browsers to view the Internet, the following guidelines will enable you to enlarge the size of the text and control the colours on your screen. However, if you require even larger text, or use a text-only browser, please refer to the RNIB web site External Link, which contains useful information on how to access the web using different technologies. 

Instructions for users of Microsoft Internet Explorer (for PC)

  • Open your Internet Explorer Web Browser 
  • Select 'Tools' from the menu at the top of your window.  
  • From the options which appear, select 'Internet options...'  
  • Click on the 'General' tab  
  • Click on the button marked 'Accessibility'  
  • To change your font size, select the checkbox marked 'Ignore font sizes specified on Web pages'  
  • To remove background and font colours, select the checkbox marked 'Ignore colours specified on web pages'  
  • Click 'OK' (and again if necessary)  
  • Select 'View' from the menu at the top of your window.  
  • From the options which appear, select 'Text size'  
  • Select your desired text size         

Instructions for users of Microsoft Internet Explorer (for Apple Mac) 

  • Open your Internet Explorer Web Browser  
  • Select the "edit" menu at the top of your window  
  • From the options menu which appears, select "preferences"  
  • Click on "web content"  
  • Deselect the button marked "show style sheets"  
  • Return to the list of preferences  
  • Click on "web browser"  
  • Select "language/fonts"  
  • Select the font size you require         

Instructions for users of Netscape Navigator (text) 

  • Select 'Edit' from the menu at the top of the window and choose 'Preferences'  
  • Open the Appearance group and click the 'Fonts' category  
  • Next to 'For the encoding' should read Western to tell the computer which types of letters and symbols to use. From 'Size' select 18  
  • Next to the Variable Width Font field is a drop down box: select 'Arial'.  
  • The Fixed Width Font box should already read 'Courier New'. From 'Size' select 18  
  • To override the fonts used by the designer of the web page, select 'Use my default fonts overriding document specified fonts'  
  • Click 'OK'         

Instructions for users of Netscape Navigator (colours) 

  • Select 'Edit' from the menu at the top of the window and choose 'Preferences' 
  • Open the Appearance group and click the 'Colors' category 
  • Select a color button to change colors of text, background, unvisited links, or visited links 
  • To override the colours used by the designer of the web page, select 'Always use my colors, overriding document' 
  • Click 'OK'        

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Copyright 

Unless otherwise stated, all of our pages and the content within them are/is copyright to Warrington Borough Council. Any use of the content of these pages without permission is not permitted. If in doubt as to how this effects you or your use of our pages in any way, please email us for further clarification.