Help
[Viruses
and Hoaxes] [Site Basics] [Jargon] [Site Layout] [Finding
Information] [Accessibility and Assistive
Software] [Technical Issues] [Screen
Resolutions] [Browsers] [Third Party
Software] [Support] [More help]
Welcome ...
to the Borough of Havant website. If
you are new to using the internet and would like some help getting
used to its conventions, we recommend the
BBC's 'Webwise' site which includes a
free on-line course on the basics of using the internet, with lots
of questions and answers about the web.
We hope that you will find your visit useful and enjoyable. To
help us to improve it for future visitors, please take the time to
fill in our on-line
User Questionnaire with
your honest views on our site.
Our intention is that this site
should serve the whole Borough. It is not just for the Borough
Council. In this site you will find much information provided by a
wide variety of companies, individuals and other organisations. If
you have a site which deals with an aspect of Havant Borough, why
not ask us to link to your site
using this online
form?
You may need the following to view some items on this site:
Acrobat
Reader (10
mb
);
Microsoft Word viewer (12
mb
); Microsoft
Excel viewer (10
mb
). Obviously you do not need the
two Microsoft Viewers if you already have Word or Excel (or an
alternative which can read them) installed on your computer.
Viruses and Hoaxes - Protecting your Computer
Using the internet can open your
computer to attack by malicious programmers - writers of viruses of
various forms. There are also other types of 'attack' which are not
what they appear; namely, they are hoaxes which seek to cause worry
to internet users, and also seek to clog up the email system by
asking you to forward messages on to your friends.
Our advice is simple - always run
up-to-date antivirus software; always ensure that your computer has
the latest 'patches' (program updates) applied; use a firewall by
default; NEVER open an email attachment unless you
are absolutely certain you know where it has come from;
NEVER respond or pass on virus warning messages
without checking they are real.
More information can be found at
http://www.sophos.com/
Site Basics - Menus and Layouts
Like every website, the individual
files on our site - or 'pages' - and linked together by hyperlinks.
These hyperlinks are usually coloured green and become blue and
underlined when your pointing device passes over them. In some
pages the links are images, and in these cases the image will
usually have a blue border around it. You can always tell whether a
link is present by hovering your mouse pointer over it - the cursor
will change from a point
to a
hand
.
To save you time drilling down to
the relevant information, we have tried to link directly to
specific parts of external websites, rather than just the home
page. On websites where content is generated dynamically this is
not always possible, and we are usually only able to take you as
far as the main subject heading. If you find an external link
doesn't work properly it may be that a deep link has moved -
please
let us know.
Jargon - Plain Enlish
This is a local government site!
Government is famous for using jargon, abbreviations and so on in
writing and speaking. Jargon is not acceptable on the web, where
people visiting sites may not understand what is meant. We will be
working towards a jargon-free site over the next two years or so,
but in the meantime there is a very useful
'Guide to Jargon'
available online on the web site of The Guardian newspaper.
Site Map (Layout)
The site is split into main topic
areas in accordance with the Local Government Navigation List. This
list is now becoming the standard way of navigating council web
sites and you should find consistency between our site and
others.
Finding Information Quickly
If you're uncertain as to where an
item of information may be, try the A to Z of services,
Site Map or
Search first. We have
cross-linked some pages to more than one menu if there appears to
be an overlap with the page's content between two or more areas of
the website.
Accessibility / Assistive Software
The Council is committed to
providing access to information for all visitors. See
our
accessibility page for
details on how we are changing our site to assist visitors who
require assistive software (such as braille readers or speech
browsers).
Technical Design
We check the appearance of our pages
using Microsoft Internet Explorer 4.0, Netscape Navigator 4.0, and
above. Other browsers, and earlier versions of these browsers, will
probably render the page correctly but at present we do not
explicitly check this.
At some times of the day internet
response times are slower than others, and your Internet Service
Provider (ISP) may also be under load at other times which will
slow down your connection.
We provide certain information in PDF
(portable document format). These documents have been created using
Adobe Acrobat 5® or above. The documents will be read accurately by
Adobe Acrobat Reader® 3.0 and above which is freely available for
download from Adobe's website, or is often contained on magazine
cover disks. Users of assistive software can convert
PDF files to
other
formats which will allow your software to read them
successfully - see our accessibility
page for more information.
Fonts are set by style sheet and may be over-ridden if
necessary (
show me
how >>).
If you find an external link doesn't work properly it may be
that a deep link has moved - please
let us know.
The pages on our website are generated dynamically using the
Immediacy Content Management
system, thus meeting Priority Services and Transformation
Outcome R24 as required by the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister.
The site is designed assuming a screen at 800 x 600 pixels in
full-screen view. To change your screen settings see the
section below.
Our Content Management
System produces computer code which meets the
XHTML 1.0
Strict specification (although we are aware of features on a
limited number of pages which fail this standard, and are working
to correct this).
Screen (Monitor) Resolutions
Although intended for the widest possible compatibility, this
Website is developed to look best in Internet Explorer or Netscape
versions 4.0 and above with a screen resolution of at least 800 x
600 pixels. If your computer is running
Windows® and you are
currently using a lower resolution and want to change to a higher
one, follow these instructions.
1. Right click on your desktop and choose 'Properties'.
2. Click on the 'Settings' tab at the top of the dialog that
appears.
3. Locate the 'Color palette' dropdown list and set it as high
as possible. GIF format images are set in 256 colours, however JPG
images can run to thousands or millions of colours, so set the
higher figure for widest compatibility.
4. Locate the 'Desktop Area' slider and set it to at least 800 x
600 pixels.
5. Click the 'OK' button at the bottom and follow any screen
instructions to complete the screen changes.
Browser Versions
For information on accessibility and assistive software, we
recommend the
AbilityNet website. Our
site has full details of the
use of assistive software
and how you can change the way this site looks to suit your own
personal preferences.
Use of Third Party Software Add-ons to your Web Browser
We have tried to avoid the use of
any techniques which can't be read directly by your browser. The
exception to this is that some documents, particularly Council
Minutes [decisions], Press Releases and some Job Adverts, require
the use of Adobe Acrobat Reader®, which is available from the list
below.
Some of the documents and media in this site may require the
following readers or viewers. Please note that these links are
placed here only for your convenience and not as an endorsement of
either the product or the software.
Support for Software Applications
Havant Borough Council does not endorse or provide support for
any software application mentioned above.
More Help
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