User Help and Safety
This page contains useful information on internet child safety, site help and using the site including methods of navigation accessibility advice.
Internet Child Safety
Winchester City Council promotes and endorses Internet child safety.
Parents and children can get further information on the issues involved with Internet safety as well as safety advice by visiting these websites.
Chat Danger - http://www.chatdanger.com/
Childnet International - http://www.childnet-int.org/
Kidsmart - http://www.kidsmart.org.uk/
For more detailed information on the issue, parents can download the report from the Home Office "Models of good practice for child safety on the Internet" http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/
Children can also visit the Thinkuknow website for further guidance on safer online chatting. http://www.thinkuknow.co.uk/
Navigation
Use your mouse button to click on the links from the front page of the site to enter other pages. Further links from these pages can then be found on each side of the page and at the foot of a page
Within the information pages on this site you can always go straight back to the homepage. Each information page also has a breadcrumb trail at the top which enables you to go back to any page within the section that you have visited.
Some pages contain hyperlinks to other, external, sites within the text or images of the page. All text links will be denoted in bold and will change the mouse cursor from a pointer to a hand when you hold your mouse over the link. The text will also underline when the cursor hovers over the text. Clicking on the link will take you to a new page.
If a linked page is an external site it will open in a new window and you will be able to return to your original page by exiting the new window (clicking the cross in the top-right hand corner of the window)
To return to the previous page within the website, use the 'Back' arrow on the top left of your browser's menu bar or click the right-hand button on your mouse once and then use the left-hand button to select 'Back'. Alternatively use the keyboard shortcut of 'ALT + left arrow' or the backspace key.
Some pages, such as this one, are arranged with bookmarks to help you go straight to the section you are looking for. Simply click on the keyword link at the top of the page.
If you get lost try clicking on the 'Home' link at the top or bottom of the page which will take you back to the home page.
Finding Information
The easiest way to find a specific page on this website is through the A to Z guide. This section acts as an index of all the information available on the site, organised alphabetically. By clicking on the relevant entry you will be taken straight to the page you are looking for.
You can browse sections of the site through the links on the front page. These will take you to the key service and information areas of the Council's site.
Alternatively, you can search the entire web site through our search engine (see below for more tips on searching).
Searching the Site
To search the City Council's website, click on the link to the search engine at the top of the page. Type a keyword and press enter to find pages containing that word / phrase. Placing "quotation marks" around your phrase will return more accurate results by only finding pages that include that exact phrase.
Other tips for searching include:
- using an asterix will find words starting with your search phrase, e.g. info* will find all documents starting with the prefix 'info'
- using two asterices will find all tenses of a word irrelevant of the prefix, for example find** will search for 'finding', 'found', 'find' etc
- using 'and' or '+' between words, will search for documents containing all specified words
- using 'or' will create a search for documents containing either of the words
- using 'near' between words will create a search for documents which contain both of the search words close together
Viewing the Site
This site has been designed to be used with any of the following browsers;
- Microsoft Internet Explorer 5 or above
- Netscape 5 or above
- Opera 6 or above
Printing
To print a whole page from this website, use the 'Print' command in the 'File' menu, on the top left of your browser.
Alternatively use the 'Printer Friendly' button in the top right hand corner of the page. This will bring up a screen with just the main text of the page you are currently looking at. To print, use the 'Print' command in the 'File' menu, on the top left of your browser.
If you only want a selection of the text, select the part you want to print by positioning the cursor at the beginning of the text, then left click and hold with your mouse button and drag the cursor to the end of the required section then release the mouse button. Use the 'Print' command on the 'File' menu and select the 'Selection' option.
Adobe Acrobat PDF Files
To make downloading and viewing easier, many documents, leaflets and forms on the site are PDF files, indicated by the PDF icon.
To read these files you will need Acrobat Reader on your PC. If you do not have this program you can download it for free from the Adobe site (www.adobe.com).
Accessibility
Winchester City Council is committed to making its web site as accessible as possible to users with disabilities, including users who may be blind or partially sighted.
The design of our website includes many features aimed to improve accessibility;
- Images used in our site are given appropriate alternative text descriptions ("ALT texts"), as required by internationally-recognised Web accessibility guidelines. All graphical navigation buttons are similarly ALT-tagged.
- We strictly avoid the use of frames throughout the Web site.
- Our pages are uncluttered and clear to read
- The navigation of the site has been designed so that you can find what you are looking for with as few clicks and as easily as possible
If you find any of the fonts used on the website too small or difficult to read, you can use the 'Accessibility Options' button in the top right hand corner of the site. The options here allow you to change font size and colour and also the background colours to make all text easier for you to read.
For more information about web site accessibility visit the following sites
