Worthing Borough Council

Answer: I knew someone would eventually ask this. To try and not be too technical, I can guarantee on your home/main Windows 2000 PC you are still using Internet Explorer 6 (IE6) and the office you were in perhaps has Internet Explorer 7 (the latest version) or maybe Firefox or Opera (two other popular web browsers.) Sadly IE6 is a very out of date web browser but a lot of people still use it. The problem is that it breaks a good majority of agreed web standards and in an ideal world we could ignore IE6 as a target. It's really not helpful when everything lays out exactly as you want it to but one web browser (IE6) does it completely differently.

With 30% of people using this very website, still using Internet Explorer 6 we can't do this though. The problem is that it tends to lay out things very differently to even version 7 of Internet Explorer and before we launched during our testing phase we found for no apparent reason, with the design we launched with, and works perfectly on everything else, that the page would disappear, gone - nothing at all there when you resized the Internet Explorer window. This was clearly not good enough. We tried various solutions but the only one that worked was to limit the width to a size that fits on the vast majority of IE6 user's screens - 94% of Internet Explorer 6 users are using 1024x768. Any larger and the grey tramlines become evident.

It's not something we wanted to do, but it is a very difficult task supporting a website of the complexity and standard expected, on a web browser which is essentially based on an eight year old platform. The bottom line is the website does work in Internet Explorer 6 and fully as well, but the layout is not as sharp as it is in any other modern web browser. A solution would be:

• Use Firefox which works on Windows 2000 and is much more up to date
• Upgrade to Windows XP or Vista and use Internet Explorer 7

There are other options like switch to a Mac and so forth, but the above two are the most practical probably in your case.

We will continue to support Internet Explorer 6 for a while yet.

Answer: Funnily enough this was something no one had asked for but I knew people would find useful time to time.

I was with a friend a couple of weeks ago and we were remarking of what was happening on the corner of Newlands Road and Chapel Road. Neither of us knew. So I looked it up on-line and found the information and though, I'll just e-mail that to my friend so she could see and it dawned on me - wouldn't it be useful like the BBC News site to be able to send an e-mail of the page without having to do it manually in my e-mail program. So I sorted that out this week.

Also for those of you into social bookmarking or Facebook, check out the other ways to share our pages at the bottom of each page of our website.

Answer: Thank you. On the whole we are noticing we are getting more and more positive comments about the website itself than we did before. So we're getting it right at last, and we will continue to listen and improve, we want this website to be really good, and really useful and we're putting in the graft to do that.

You will indeed get all the information when the new phase for the new wheeled bin service is confirmed and the streets within phase three are likewise confirmed. You will then have the ability to sign up for optional services such as garden waste collection, and also larger recycling and refuse bins on-line as previous phases have. It's been a very tricky job to maintain clarity of information with two services, the new and old running in parallel and not confusing things too much!

Again thanks for your comments, we have noticed that nationally we are doing very well and better than the national average now for satisfaction so we'll keep on working and keep on improving this website.

Answer: A fair comment. A couple of things generally. I'm not sure how much fiddling you have had to do but you can always access the mapping service (Discover Worthing) by clicking on the A to Z Index and choosing M and Maps for example. Then when you get to that page you click on the link to the service and you're in. It sounds worse than it really is. We are bringing back quick links to the home page (I'm figuring out how to do it effectively and neatly) so it'll be two clicks and in soon.

That said, the maps page which takes you in is full of useful information of what you can do and basic how to do it information. There is also the terms of service statement that by using the service, you agree to the terms of its use, which has to be agreed to.

That said it can be improved, and it will be improved, anything can. If the fiddly part came out of perhaps navigational problems (i.e. finding it) - please let me know (webmaster@worthing.gov.uk as always) and I'll be happy to listen and see if there is something we need to get fixed and improved.

Answer: Thanks, we did receive a number of comments on this and so we looked at what the problem was and tried our best to fix it so you can understand who does what a lot better. We've now set our sights on the Your Council section in general as it needs a lot of tender loving care. It's always nice to get some positive feedback as even though we can see the survey is yielding very positive opinion, few people write to say, "Came looking for this and found it and went away again."

Answer: I actually agree with you completely, no need to be sorry. I will look at ways we can make this better and easier to read. Maybe we don't need to highlight the words at all?

Answer: It is likely that the job vacancy had a closing date and that closing date was on the day you read it. Job Vacancies are usually taken immediately off the website after the closing date has passed. What job was you looking at, I can tell you what happened to it.

Answer: Great to hear from you. Really glad to hear positive words about this website. We really are working hard on making it easier to use and inevitably we will get it wrong sometimes and we will work to make it right. That said, our monthly survey shows we are actually exceeding the national average for satisfaction on our website so we're also doing things right. All I can do is continue to work hard and make this website a fantastic resource.

Answer: Another perfectly fair comment. I have found out they are 'key locations' in Worthing e.g. Town Hall, Pavilion Theatre etc., however they don't really add anything to the maps you mention. I will speak to our mapping people to see if they can be removed on these maps.

Answer: Actually yes there should and I'm programming it and writing the system right now (well not right now, I'm typing but it's one of July and August's 'hot things to get done') -- so that you can search easily through burial records and locations in all of our major cemeteries. I really hope the new search will help you, when it's on-line.

Answer: Consider it done. A good idea, thanks.

Answer: Sorry? What? I'm going to need a little more to go on to work on this comment's suggestion...

Answer: I'm glad you valued this, I'm a keen photographer and I know there are also plenty in Worthing. I'm also very keen to promote something leisure and recreation related to the photos we put up so I hope they do provide some enjoyment. Given half a chance I'm thinking of drawing maps for short walks and so forth related to the photos where I can, but sadly I only have so much time in a day!

Answer: I'm sorry to hear that you feel this way about our website. However, we are always striving to improve so if you have any concrete ways in which you feel we could, let us know. (We get a fair few suggestions that are "This website could be improved" - we know it can, but how would you improve it if you had a chance -- then we can act)

What I can say is that not many people are finding our website poor, nor are many finding it difficult to use as our monthly feedback last month was the best it has ever been and we have been noted as have satisfaction levels above the average reported for websites that take part in the SOCITM (SoCiety of Information Technology Management) survey. There also areas where we need to improve and as I always say we will do that, no ifs and no buts. All I can say is that unlike our old website we are not only doing very well, but we are also doing very well when compared nationally to other districts.

As for the form being deliberately 'awkward' -- originally it was literally type in your comment (as it tells you, it is comment on the page itself, how we can improve it, what was not there, what was good) and click to send. Sadly some people did not read what the form was for and sent in messages that needed a reply i.e. council tax queries, benefits request etc. with only a name to go on. So we had to put an interim screen in to 'sift' out these because the last thing you want is to type in a box your request and then find you don't get a reply. Another benefit of the 'click-confirm' method is it stopped about half of the hundreds of junk e-mails that I get trying to sell me various dubious products when clearly I need to be working on the website, not sifting through tat that I have been sent from companies I've never heard of.

That said, I think you have a point as there is no clear place on our website for people like yourself to tell us what you think about Worthing, what you would change, what you would like in the town, what would you keep the same. I'm thinking like the BBC News website's 'Have Your Say' topics, and I think that is something we need on our website. I'm already putting together a consulting you/have your say section as we have no clear one-stop-place to put all the topics you can comment on.

Watch this space.

Answer: That's excellent! That's exactly what we want to achieve and it does seem the majority of people agree. We have found much of the comments/criticism received through this comments form have shown us where we can improve and that really helps everybody at the end of the day. It's far better to say, "This page was difficult to find because..." or "This page is not good because..." instead of saying "What a load of rubbish!" Why? Because all three tell us we need to look at improving something but only the first two give us what you think needs to be improved.

We happily take criticism that is constructive, but where an unreasonable or vague critical comment is received, it's often hard to act on it, e.g. "I think this website can be improved." We know it can, but how would you do.

Answer: As a web developer I can't comment on the latter issue, you may want to get in touch with your councillor and ask them?

This is a screenshot of the Recycling and Refuse Days gadget on the homepage that has had Goring Way typed into it.

However the page does tell you exactly what is happening to your collections -- we wouldn't forget something as important as that! I have made the key bit bold now to stand out.

To reiterate:

• If you have your refuse, recycling or garden waste collected on a Wednesday or a Thursday usually - it will not be collected this week. Instead it will be collected next week on your usual day (either Wednesday or Thursday) next week.
• Additional waste due to the delay will be allowed (also known as side waste.) If you are on the new wheeled bin service (only parts of Worthing so far) and a fortnightly recycling cycle, it will be collected this Saturday (21st) instead.
• You can still dispose of your domestic refuse, recycling and garden waste for no charge at the Household Waste Recycling Sites

Also, I really recommend typing in your street name into the Recycling and Refuse Days gadget on the homepage which on the top right as standard-- it will always tell you when your collection is without having to look any deeper in the site as it remembers what you typed in last. For example. Goring Way is affected this week and the Recycling and Refuse Days gadget shows you this (right).

Answer: That's very kind, I hope you are settling in well. I'm not sure about it being genius but a bit a common sense helped when working out how our new website would work, and it seemed pretty obvious that people would find something like that useful. It does need a few refinements (such as being able to see the dates for weeks in advance of the current one) but so far it's doing its job well. Thanks!

Answer: The number is on a few pages but it needs to be made clearer and easy to find. I'll do just that. Thanks.