Local Council Website Features

Responsive web design (RWD) is an approach to web design which makes web pages render well on a variety of devices and window or screen sizes. Recent work also considers the viewer proximity as part of the viewing context as an extension for RWD. Content, design and performance are necessary across all devices to ensure usability and satisfaction.

We use a simple WYSIWYG (What You See is What You Get) page editing system. This allows you to view the page as you are creating it and know what it will look like prior to publishing it. There are no limits to the number of pages you can have using page builder. Whilst creating a page you can hide pages (while you are working on them) grant page permissions to other users so that they are only visible to a select audience. Produce "sticky pages" so the post or page will stick to the front page of the website. Pages can be edited infinite times and only published when you are ready to publish. Have an important announcement to make while your offices are closed? No problem you can set dates to make pages available between selected dates. Also there is a un-delete should you accidentally delete a page you did not mean to.

DMS (Document Management System) allows you to categorize, tag and display your documents. Enabling you to restrict selected documents to targeted audiences public, restricted, private. You can insert these document wherever you would like within your website. Acceptable document formats are Word, Excel, PowerPoint, TXT, RTF, and PDF. All document descriptions are searchable from the search bar.

Document Picker is accessible while in the calendar and news forms to enable you to attach documents such as minutes from meetings and agendas from the Document Management System to individual stories or meetings. You are also able to use the Document Picker to add documents to pages from DMS console.

Content Modules allow you to select where information is displayed on your website and how. The extensive library of modules include Upcoming meetings, Polls, Statistics, A-Z quick picker, Latest News, Banners, Home Page Ticker, Latest Images and Custom plain text to mention just a part of the available modules.

The tool range for assisting you with adding and managing content on pages is very wide. The tools will help you deliver content that meets accessibility guidelines. They allow for the manipulation of headings, images, documents, forms, polls, tables, links, text, multimedia and many more useful tools.

Audio and video clips can be seamlessly integrated in to pages using the multimedia tool. This also allows YouTube videos to be inserted as well.

Images can be easily uploaded from a computer to the website for displaying and using in pages. The integrated system automatically resizes images for fast loading on webpages. Images can be used in a variety of ways providing more interaction for page visitors.

Images can be easily uploaded and entered into the Gallery where you can attach descriptions, alternate text, tag and categorize them. Images can be selected and displayed on any page across the website. A selection of images can be selected and displayed on a selected page. This is very useful when building pagers related to buildings or areas of interest.

Slide shows enable you to bring moment to your home page. Similar to the slide show at the top of this page. Your slide show can also provide quick links to content within your site.

Fast, flexible and robust sub menu and menu creation. You can select vertical or horizontal styles.

Form builder allows you to build interactive forms that allow you to create new forms with drop down selections, text fields, checkboxes and radio boxes. These form allow you to interact with your visitors and collect information via email or database format to analyse later.

Table creation can be used to build and display tabular information. Content can be imported from spread sheets and will automatically format the table for use.

Questionnaire builder can create questionnaires using form builder functionality. Complicated questionnaires can be created that will bypass questions or add questions depending on the persons answer.

News Page enables you to have news items in different formats such as text, links documents and images from the DMS. A Really Simple Syndication (RSS) feed makes it possible for people to receive your news posts and keep current with events. News items can be automatically tweeted and linked to social media profiles.

Contacts tool allows you to add, edit and delete contacts. Contacts can be built and linked to profiles, so when a user adds new items they are automatically linked to their contact information. This can be a useful tool for storing councilor details.

The About section provides links to several pages: Policies and Procedures, Lists and Registers, Reports, Publication scheme, Financial Information, and (for larger councils who need to report in more detail) Open Data Template. The about area makes complying with various regulatory requirements very simple.

Meetings Calendar can be used to enter all council meeting information and attach the relevant agenda and minute documents from the DMS for visitors to download. The ability to make a meeting public or private is available. The meetings calendar provides an insight into local council business.

The Community Events Calendar is the ideal page to enter all community events on. Attach relevant information form the DMS to give more information to users.

If your district council provide a feed of planning data it will automatically appear on your website. Each planning application will be marked on a Google Map with all listing of all applications. Each link will provide a link to the application data on the district councils website. Users will be able to comment on applications to you council.

This area is designed to be a secure area for councilors (registered users) only. This is an area where information and relevant documentation can be shared prior to meetings. This saves the clerks time and resources by making all relevant information available to all members in one area for them to access.

Pages can be created for specialist areas of your community like public footpaths, youth activities and noumorouse other interactive areas.

A site map is automatically generated and structured to display links to all pages published on your website. This allows search engines to navigate your website easily to index your pages.

Social Media  icons below content allow site visitors to share the item with friends by a number of sharing platforms including email, Twitter and Facebook to mention just a few.

Site visitors are able to subscribe to email alerts about new or changes to existing topics of interest on your site.

A Really Simple Syndication (RSS) feed makes it possible for people to receive your news posts and keep current with events.

Mapping tool allows for Google Maps integration with any page.

Your site is equipped with a search engine that allows users to search your documents and information. 

A Data base driven page can be created to display posts like a blog that allows visitors to leave comments on the post. This creates good interaction between the site visitors and the authority. All comments can be moderated before being posted.

Database news letters can be create to inform subscribers of events and agendas.

Create a customized booking form and room availability calendar for your village hall.

Entries for community groups and local businesses can be entered by the public for moderation. They will be shown on a Google map and can be searched by category and distance.

Creation of disclaimer, privacy and cookie policies for website.

Built in spell checker makes sure that your publications are always correctly spelled as we all make lips occasional! 

Standard access keys make the site user friendly for disabled users to access. Your website will be W3C standard automatically and AA complaint.

Incorporated in to the site is a powerful statistic reporting tool so you can better understand your site visitors and better serve them with information they are looking for.

We offer two types of training

Onsite Training

Is offered for authorities that would like the personal touch. We will visit your location and spend the required number of days training as many members of your staff that you require. Once completed your staff will be knowledgeable in all areas of your website.

Online Training

Online training is available 24 hours per day 7 days a week. The training is very detailed and you can learn at your own pace. Online training can be used as often as you wish and for as long as you require.

You can add the functionality of being able to sell event tickets online very easily. 

The site does have even more features than listed here.

e.g. www.yourcouncile.gov.uk

Unlimited web space (subject to fair use policy)

This allows you to have email addresses that look professional as a local authority e.g. councilmember@yourcouncil.gov.uk.

Forwarding allows you to create email addresses for questionnaires and have them sent to one email address instead of separate accounts. This can also be used to make sure all members receive copy's of emails received under a specific topic. 

We get notifications of any unusual activity and will take immediate corrective action if necessary.

Our websites are all issued with SSL (Secure Sockets Layer) certificates which are the standard security technology for establishing an encrypted link between a web server and a browser. This link ensures that all data passed between the web server and browsers remain private and integral. SSL is an industry standard and is used by millions of websites in the protection of their online transactions with their customers.

We strongly recommend the use of e.g. yourcouncil.gov.uk as a website domain name. Using this format gives several advantages. 

Makes it easier for people to find your website and search engines.

Give a more authoritative and professional appearance.

Online support will be given via our support tool(ticket system) and is available 24/7/365. Any question can be asked via our support system even if you would like changes to something on your website. We try to resolve all issues raised within one working day and all within five working days. In the event of an emergency you can call our dedicated hotline.

Telephone support is available for urgent situations seven days per week. This is only after a ticket has been logged in the support system.

If there is the occasion that a difficult problem arises it is possible for us to take control of your computer (with your permission obviously) remotely to resolve the issue at hand.

We offer full support for your email problems with IMAP, POP3 and forwarding.

We understand situations arise that none of us foresee. In the event of temporary illness or lack of availability of the clerk we are able to assist with administering your site content. We would only recommend use of this service in an emergency as our CMS is very easy to use and there are tutorials online to help. This is a chargeable item please refer to your contract for the charge rates that will be applied.

We will register your selected domain name and set the name servers so that it points to your website. If your council has an existing domain name that you are keeping we will leave it pointing to the old website until the new one is completed and then change the DNS to point at the new site.

Each and every council, parish and local authorities will have different email requirements. For this reason we will lease with you over what you require and suggest a solution to your requirements and implement said requirements.

We will configure your website to meet with your requirements. This will include setting up menus and site structure.

A main user account will be created on setup. You will be able to log in and change this account to meet your requirements and add additional new access accounts as needed.

Content migration can be preformed at set up. We require councils and local authorities to supply images and content that you wish to add to your website at this point.

This area of training introduces your clerk or council members to your new site and gives a general over view of features. It also covers the use of the help ticket system should you have any problems. User names and passwords will be given for access to the training modals on completion of implementation.

In this are you will find tutorials broken down into areas for each feature. We try to keep tutorials to under five minutes each so they are fast and easy to learn.

This area is dedicated to questions asked that can help all users of local authority websites. Before contacting us you may find your answer already posted here.

We offer on site face to face training for local authorities who require that personal touch. This is a chargeable expense. Please contact us for costs.