You are hereHantsweb HomeYour CouncilHelp

Help

Getting the best from Hantsweb

This page contains information on how to get the best experience from this site. Including methods of navigation and links to advice on accessibility and advice on browser customisation and accessibility options.

About the site

Hantsweb is a very large information resource provided by Hampshire County Council together with many other associated organisations in Hampshire. Hantsweb contains over 700,000 pages giving information on the internet for the benefit of anyone who wants to know more about Hampshire and services for the community in the county.

The website has been designed to be as accessible to as many visitors as possible, regardless of your browser, screen resolution or method of accessing the site.

Using the site

The site can be navigated in the following ways:

Using the main content navigation links from the homepage to the main content sections on the site, such as Hampshire County Council or Local Pages

Using the global site navigation at the top of every page:

  • Hantsweb home: takes you back to the Hantsweb Homepage.

  • Search: allows you search the whole of Hantsweb.

  • Contact Us: links to a page of principal Hampshire County Council telephone numbers, fax numbers, postal and e-mail addresses.

  • A-Z of Services: is an A-Z listing of all services provided by the County, Districts and Borough councils in Hampshire.  Each entry provides contact details, and most entries provide links to further information.

  • Help: links to this page, providing a guide on how to get the best from this site.

Most pages have an extra content menu, to allow visitors to navigate to main sections or specific topics of interest within the subject area being viewed

Accessibility

Hampshire County Council has always been committed to making its web site as accessible as possible to benefit all visitors. This includes visitors with disabilities, such as blind or partially sighted visitors.

Hampshire County Council was the first local authority in the United Kingdom to be awarded with a Royal National Institute of the Blind's 'See It Right' award. Hantsweb, Hampshire County Council's website, also appears on a video produced by the RNIB in partnership with the Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI). Many of the lessons learned by Hantsweb can be seen in the video, "Websites that Work!" which is available from the RNIB or the WAI.

We have a clear set of web publishing standards that must be followed for publishing to the main Hantsweb site.

The design of our website includes a number of accessibility features including:

  • Access Keys: the Hantsweb main navigation uses the UK Government standard access keys.
  • an accessible design throughout. Rather than providing additional text only pages, we ensure that all pages and information on Hantsweb are accessible. This benefits all visitors. The font type and size as well as colours can easily be chosen by the visitor to suit their needs or preference.
  • ensuring that all images used in our site are given appropriate alternative text descriptions ("ALT texts"), as required by internationally-recognised Web accessibility guidelines (W3C). All graphical navigation buttons are similarly ALT-tagged. If you should spot an image without any alternative text please report it by using the feedback option at the top of that page
  • we strictly avoid the use of frames and pop-up windows throughout the main council Web site.
  • All information is provided in HTML format. In addition the site uses PDF (Adobe Acrobat) file format for the publication of some documents to assist with the printing of the information . Please note that Adobe Acrobat documents can be converted back to plain text using Adobe's Web-based conversion service.
  • we try to avoid the use of other proprietary publishing formats such as Shockwave Flash and other media formats requiring third-party plug-ins., We only use other technologies, such as JavaScript, in a way as to avoid creating accessibility barriers (i.e. the information or service can still be used with a non-JavaScript enabled browser). Hantsweb's policy is to ensure all information is available in HTML format, and all proprietary publishing formats are in addition to this information, not in place of it.

Access keys

The Hantsweb site uses the UK Government standard access keys:

1 - links to the Hantsweb Homepage
2 - links to what's new on Hantsweb
3 - links to the A-Z of Hantsweb
4 - links to the Search page
6 - links to this Help page
7 - links to the complaints procedure
8 - links to the Disclaimer page
9 - links to the Contact Us page
0 - links to details about access keys
S - skips the main Hantsweb navigation bar
Z - skips to the featured items

The following information indicates how access keys can be used. Identify the browser you are using and follow the instructions:

  • Internet Explorer 5+: Hold down the ALT key and select the number/letter of the access key, then press ENTER.
  • Internet Explorer 4: Hold down the ALT key and select the number/letter of the access key.
  • Internet Explorer 5+ for Mac: Hold down the CTRL key and select the number/letter of the access key
  • Internet Explorer 4.5 for Mac: Access keys are not supported.
  • Netscape 6+: Hold down the ALT key and select the number/letter of the access key.
  • Netscape earlier versions: Access keys are not supported.
  • Mozilla: Hold down the ALT key and select the number/letter of the access key.
  • Firefox v. 2+: Hold down the Shift and ALT keys and select the number/letter of the access key.

Customise your browser

You may wish to alter the way Hantsweb looks. For example, the colours may not be to your liking, or the text size a little too small for you to read with comfort. Our website has been created in such a way that any changes you've already made in your web browser prior to visiting us are automatically reflected.

The following information will help you to change the text and background colours and  text size and style of our website, and explain how these changes can be made to affect every site you visit if you wish.

The instructions for each browser are different. Therefore you need to select the browser you are using from the list below.

  • Internet Explorer
  • Netscape Navigator
  • Opera

Note: If you are not sure which browser you are using then select the Help option, this is usually found at the top of the browser window (as shown in the image), and this will say 'About' followed by the name of the browser.

Your feedback

We are continually working to improve the accessibility and usability of Hantsweb, and welcome all your suggestions and comments.

If you encounter any accessibility or technical problems when using this site, or if you have any comments or suggestions then please contact the Hantsweb Team.