Watch a demonstration of our ReadSpeaker tool which reads web pages out loud to you.
We have implemented a new version of the ReadSpeaker tool on our website, which allows you to have the text read out loud to you.
To listen to a page you simply click on the listen button which appears on every content page. You can also choose a section of the text to be read if you don’t want to listen to the whole page.
In the settings menu you can change options such as speed, volume, colour for highlighting the text etc. For more information about the features please see the listen help page on our website.
We would like to know what you think of the changes. Have you used this feature on our website before?
Please let us know by emailing web.team@bracknell-forest.gov.uk or you can contact us on Twitter @BFCyourservices
This video provides a demo of our new bin collection day finder tool.
We have created a new tool which tells you your bin collection day and the collection due for that week if you are a Bracknell Forest resident (as the council operates an alternate bin collection system).
Take a look at the waste and recycling collection day finder or use the QR code to get there.
We’ve even made it easy to use on a mobile device – so you can check your collection day anytime and anywhere.
If you have an iPhone or an iPad you can save any of our forms to your home screen by selecting the arrow at the bottom of your browser and choosing the “Add to home screen option”.
Give the form a title of your choice and it will be just one touch away!
Why not give the collection day finder a try and let us know what you think. If information for your address is not available, you believe the details to be incorrect or you have some other feedback please contact us at web.team@bracknell-forest.gov.uk
Our website has been handed the highest possible four-star ranking in a prestigious annual survey of the UK’s 433 local authority websites.
Bracknell Forest was one of only 37 councils to receive the top rating from the Society of Information Technology Management (SOCITM). It has also been ranked in the top 20 best developed sites.
The SOCITM reviewer of our site commented:
Almost every task carried out on this site was easy, quick and reliable. The content was consistently excellent, answering most of the questions I had and providing relevant, contextual links to further information or actions that I could take to complete the task. There is a very social feel to the homepage which, although it takes up a lot of valuable space, helps to convey the uncluttered, informative and current nature of the site. Overall, though, an exceptional website that presents information clearly, allows tasks to be completed quickly, and serves its citizens well.
The reviewer’s comments are welcomed as they reflect the main objectives that the Web Team set for the new website, launched in April 2012.
The survey also revealed that the council’s website has the highest level of take up by local residents in the country (over 45%). This is the fourth year in a row that Bracknell Forest has had the highest proportion of local residents who visit their council website.
Xpresionz was launched over five years ago as a website for young people by young people. Its key objective was to deliver straight forward information and services provided by the council through Youth Services. Five years on the website and the digital needs of young people in the area are being reviewed.Technology has moved on during this period and the current website no longer reflects the needs and expectations of young people.
Young people have embraced the use of social media over the last few years and this has led to the development of a Facebook page for Youth Services, which has allowed the team to interact and inform young people in a space that they enjoy and feel comfortable to use.
The way that young people choose to access information online has also changed with a growing preference to access information on the move via mobile and tablet devices. The current website is not designed to be accessed on alternative devices and provides a poor experience for those who choose to access it in this way.
The young people’s website redevelopment needs to take these changes in young people’s online preferences and technology into account. It also needs to consider how to make the website engaging to young people by empowering them to help shape the design selected and the range of information and services provided.
An initial meeting was held this week with an enthusiastic and digitally savvy group of young people to help to understand their use of the internet, their likes and dislikes and what a new website might offer. This information will help to shape the direction that the website redevelopment takes and further sessions are planned. But that will just be the start as these young people will in turn share their ideas and get feedback from other young people in the borough. Social media and programmed events will help to achieve this interaction and engagement.
The young people’s website redevelopment will also help the council to pilot the use of open source content management software. We are currently investigating using Drupal, an open source web content management system. This project will also help us to build our knowledge of Drupal before considering its use on our public website.
We were recently asked to build a website to hold information about the regeneration of Bracknell Town Centre.
The site was created in WordPress using one of the freely available themes.
One of the benefits of using WordPress is that you can enable a mobile theme making your website mobile friendly. This is great as many people now choose to browse the web on a mobile device.
You can visit the site at http://bracknellregeneration.org/
Let us know what you think of the site. If you have any queries relating to the regeneration plans themselves, please contact bracknell.regeneration@bracknell-forest.gov.uk
Our address finder will save you time when completing our online forms, as you just need to enter your postcode and the database will find your address and fill in the rest of the details for you (as long as it is a Bracknell Forest address).
Before we implement this, we need to test thoroughly to ensure that it is working properly. We would therefore be most grateful if you could test for us using any Bracknell Forest postcodes to see whether the addresses are found.
If you spot any issues or would like to leave feedback, please get in touch.
We know that approximately 26% of users access our website from a mobile device and this number is sure to grow as people use mobile devices more and more to access the web.
Although we have an optimised version of our website, mobile users up until now have only been able to access the desktop version of our online forms.
We are pleased to announce that our forms are now ‘mobile friendly’, so that they are easy to use whilst you are out and about. So, for example, if you spot a faulty street light you can tell us about it there and then using your mobile device.
Please let us know what you think of this development. You can leave us a comment on this blog or send us an email at web.team@bracknell-forest.gov.uk or tweet us @BFCyourservices
Finding broken links on a website can be very frustrating. On a large website like ours broken links can be a major headache as there are thousands of links (6,102 links at the time of writing this blog post) and they can break at any time of the day if an external website goes down or links are changed in some way.
How do we try to avoid broken links?
External link monitoring
We use an external monitoring service to alert us when there are any problems with external links and put things right – either by updating the link or removing it and finding an alternative if appropriate. We do this on a regular basis and have a ‘zero tolerance’ on broken links as we know just how annoying it can be to be taken to a ‘Page Not Found’ message.
Content review
We check web links on our website before we publish them online to make sure that they work. We also periodically review web content to make sure that links are working but also continue to be relevant and provide current and useful information.
Feedback
We try to find and fix broken links before anyone finds them but we do welcome feedback from visitors. If you find a broken link then please tell us – it’ll help us to put things right for you the next time you or others visit a page on our website.
Do you have a smart phone? Why not download a free app that lets you access council information and make reports to the council on a variety of issues?
The Looking Local mobile app allows you to report abandoned vehicles, anti-social behaviour, dumped rubbish, graffiti, potholes and road issues, street lighting faults and damage to street furniture.
You can report all of these on your phone, at the moment you notice them, or if you want to, you can make a report once you are home.
If your phone has GPS you can pinpoint the problems whilst you are out, or you can locate the place on the map later on. With a camera phone you can take a picture and show us the problem.
This is a great way to let us know about any issues you discover as you are out and about in Bracknell. Why not download it and give it a go? Simply search for ‘Looking Local’ on your smartphone.
Let us know what you think by leaving a comment on this blog or emailing us at web.team@bracknell-forest.gov.uk.
(All these images are from the iPhone version. If you have an Android phone, it may look a little different.)
You may have noticed that we have made some changes to the homepage on the desktop version of the website. In an attempt to make news more visible we now display the 5 most recent news stories. There is also a feed on the main news page to make the stories easier to find.
We have also included a consultations box which shows the current consultations and changed the way that we present the “I am…” section on the homepage using expandable boxes.
These change are currently on the desktop version of the site only.
The site is constantly evolving as a result of feedback and user testing. If you have any feedback or comments about these changes or the site in general please get in touch. You can comment on this blog, email us at web.team@bracknell-forest.gov.uk or tweet us @BracknellForest using #yourbfc
Our website features expandable boxes to present content. These are currently being used to prese
nt popular services, contact information, downloads and related websites.
With the exception of the popular services boxes, the rest are closed by default on our web pages and you need to click on the plus icon to expand them to see the content.
We are interested to find out what you think of this design feature. Do you find this confusing, or is it obvious to you how to use these boxes? If you are looking for a document on a web page, would you think it logical to look in the downloads box, or would you expect to see it on the page?
Please let us know what you think by commenting on this blog, sending us an email to web.team@bracknell-forest.gov.uk or tweet us @BracknellForest using #yourbfc
We are committed to providing a website that is accessible to the widest audience.
We have implemented a range of tools on our website to help make the experience as user friendly and accessible as possible. This includes the ability to listen to the site using our ReadSpeaker tool, which is useful for people who experience difficulties reading text online.
We also put you in control, by allowing you to change the size of the text using our text size controls.
Do you find it difficult to read black text on a white background? Then why not change the page theme to one of our alternative options. Yellow, black, and blue backgrounds are also provided to aid your viewing experience.
The controls for these features can be found at the top of the page.
Take a look at the accessibility pages on our website for more information.
Have you used any of our accessibility features before? If so, we would love to know whether you found them useful.
Please let us know if you have any other suggestions that might improve your experience of using the website.
You can provide your feedback by leaving a comment on this blog or by emailing us at web.team@bracknell-forest.gov.uk
You might have noticed that the pop up about cookies on our website has disappeared recently. Well, we’ve replaced it with something that won’t get in the way of what you are doing.
With the pop up you had to give consent to accept cookies, which many of you weren’t doing. This meant that some of our features didn’t work. This consent was required, by law, for cookies to be placed on your computer.
However, the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) decided at the end of May 2012 that consent could be implied when it came to cookies.
This means that you don’t need to do anything anymore. If you click on the triangle in the corner of our web pages, you will get some information and advice to allow you to make an informed decision as to whether or not you accept our cookies. If you decide you do want to opt out, you can change your browser settings.
You can visit our page about cookies for more information at http://www.bracknell-forest.gov.uk/cookies.
(For anyone wondering, a cookie is, as well as a tasty treat, a small file of letters and numbers that allow a website to recognise a visitor’s PC, mobile, or other device.
The information accessed by the cookie is used to improve the user experience on the website by, for example, ensuring that you don’t have to give the same information several times during one task.
Cookies aren’t used to identify individual visitors, but rather to make the site work better for you.)
In addition to the desktop version of our site, we also have a mobile version which allows you to access our website on the go.
On your mobile device you can do most of the things you can on the desktop version, from reporting problems with streetlights, to making online leisure bookings.
Currently 29% of users access the website using a mobile device and we want to make sure you are receiving the best possible experience. For this to happen it is important that we receive your feedback.
If you haven’t already visited the mobile site, why not take a look around at http://m.bracknell-forest.gov.uk/home.htm
If you are using a mobile device you should be automatically redirected to the mobile site, or you can scan this QR code to get there:
We want to make sure you receive the best possible experience, so please send us your feedback and let us know of any problems you are experiencing, as well as the device you are using, so we can investigate any issues.
You can leave us a comment on this blog or email us at web.team@bracknell-forest.gov.uk
Have you applied or looked for a council job through our website? If so, we are keen to hear from you and f
ind out ways that we can improve the user experience.
We would be interested to hear your thoughts on the following:
- Did a Google search lead you to our site, or did you come directly to us?
- When you got to the site, how easy was it to find what you were looking for? Did you navigate the site, search or use the A to Z?
- Did you find all of the information that you were looking for?
- Did you apply online for a job? If so, how was this experience?
We are also interested to know whether you applied using a desktop or mobile device and the resulting experience.
You can leave us a comment on this blog or email us at web.team@bracknell-forest.gov.uk
We are keen to hear your thoughts on how easy it is to find planning information on our website. This includes planning applications and planning policies etc.
Maybe you are a resident or a developer – do you use the search engine? Or do you navigate through the site? Whichever method you use, we would like to hear from you about you experiences.
You can leave us a comment on this blog or email us at web.team@bracknell-forest.gov.uk
We have added ‘search as you type’ to our website to help people to locate content. When you start typing into the search box you should now see a list of suggestions appear. When you select an item from the list you are taken directly to search results on that topic. From there you can choose what to view.
Please take a look and let us know what you think.
We have recently added a Roadworks finder to our site – http://www.bracknell-forest.gov.uk/roadworksfinder
The Roadworks finder provides real-time information about the location of roadworks and other notifiable highway events. It will help you to view precisely where and when roadworks are taking place, who is responsible for them, and assess the likely impact on journey times. The Roadworks finder is developed by Elgin – www.elgin.org.uk
Find your nearest GP, dentist or pharmacy on our website at http://www.bracknell-forest.gov.uk/findmynearestgpdentistorpharmacy
This service is provided by NHS Choices. Take a look and let us know what you think.
We are keen to hear your thoughts on our online forms to find out how effective they are and to help us identify areas for improvement.
We have created a feedback form which looks at our real-life ”order a blue recycling bin form”. It asks for feedback on each section of the form and you will also have the opportunity to provide comments on our online forms in general.
You can also provide your feedback by leaving a comment on this blog or by emailing us at web.team@bracknell-forest.gov.uk
