Our New Site
The current version of our website was launched in November 2005.
The site was been planned, designed (with some generous help from Publicis), built and edited by our Website Editor, who would welcome any and all email feedback.
Love it? hate it? Found a bug? Please let us know.
This is YOUR website. The more you talk to us the better we can provide you with the service you deserve.
Site stats
- site first launched December 1998
- created in this form 4th November 2005
- over 550,000 site visits in 2005
- currently about 50,000 site visits per month
Using the website
Some common questions have been answered here to help you get the most out of this website. If your question is not answered here, let us know.
Will the new website work with my browser?
the site was developed in both Internet Explorer and Firefox on a PC. We also tested the site in Safari and Internet Explorer for the Mac, and Opera for Mac and PC. As far as we are aware the only browser that had problems correctly displaying the site was Opera for the Mac.
Will the website load quickly with my dial-up Internet connection?
The vast majority of pages on the site should be no more than 50k in size, meaning that the site should run smoothly and swiftly on a dial up connection
How do I find my way around the new website?
The old version of the site used as many as five separate navigation menus, which could be confusing. The new site has one simple 'tree' style menu which links to every page on the site.
To help you find your way around the site more easily, we have also included a ‘crumb trail’ in the green strap at the top of every page. This lets you see where you are within the site and helps you to find your way back to pages you have just visited.
Why is the menu on the right of the screen?
In the West we read from left to right, so why are navigation bars always on the left, taking 'precedence' over the text that is the main business of the page? We decided to move the navigation bar to the right and to allow the page to get on with the business of providing information as soon as possible.
How do I increase the size of the text?
We have used Arial as our standard font, and set the text size as 12pt. This is very much standard throughout the Internet. You can easily make the text bigger throughout the whole website by following the clear links on the homepage and in the side menu.
Why doesn’t the page fill my computer screen?
The majority of home computers have a screen width of 800 pixels. The site has been set at a width of 750 to better suit the majority of machines. This is common practice on many websites - BBC News Online do the same - and helps to standardise the layout of the site.
Do I need extra software to view images on the website?
You do not need to download lots of extra software to use the site. Apart from a few image slideshows, there is no Flash animation anywhere on the site. If we ever do decide to integrate Flash it will be in such a way that it will be invisible and seamless to non-Flash browsers.
Is the website accessible to visually impaired users?
The entire site is coded using the very latest CSS design principles. This makes the pages much easier for screen readers to successfully navigate, increasing the accessibility of the site for visually impaired users. If you are surfing this page using a screen reader please let us know what you think of the site.