PDF / Adobe Acrobat documents
PDF (portable document format) documents are suited for downloading and printing. All downloadable documents and forms are provided in PDF format.
If you can't view PDF documents you can download the free Adobe Acrobat Reader (external link) and install it.
Navigating and searching the website
There are several ways to find information on the council website. These include:
- A-Z list of services
- The search feature
- The site 'category' structure
- The sitemap
- The advice pages
- Access keys
- Wigan Council logo
A-Z
The A-Z service list is a list of services delivered by and on behalf of the council, and selected services delivered by council partners. The list is ordered alphabetically. The easiest way to find a page is to click on a letter (in the A-Z box or on the A-Z page) and scroll down the resulting list until you find the service you are looking for.
Another option is to search for content using a search term (which can be a word or phrase) in the A-Z search box. The effectiveness of this search is dependent on the key words provided by the content author. We welcome feedback about our use of A-Z key words and phrases.
You may also use the general search (at the top of the page) to find A-Z entries. Simply enter your search term and click Go. The general search tab displays up to four relevant service links. Clicking on the Services tab will display all relevant service links.
Different criteria are used to return results in the general search and the dedicated A-Z search. The general search searches for the search terms anywhere in a document while the dedicated A-Z search only searches the page titles and keywords. As a result the general search returns more A-Z pages while the A-Z search is more likely to return only the more relevant A-Z pages.
Search
The website search feature is described on the search help page.
Sitemap
The sitemap provides an overview of the site structure. It contains the most important pages at the upper levels of the site.
Advice pages
The advice pages are located under the 'Advice, Benefits & Services' area of the site. The advice pages consist of links to (and details of)
- organisations such as charities that provide services that complement or extend council services.
- organisations that provide services that the council has no statutory responsibility to provide.
- a few Wigan Council services
The pages are organised by subject area.
Wigan Council logo
The Wigan Council logo on in the top left hand corner on every page links to the home page.
Breadcrumb trail
The breadcrumb trail (located below the page header) on almost all pages (not the home page). The breadcrumb trail shows where a page exists in the website structure. Each of the elements of the breadcrumb is a link and can be used to navigate the site.
Adjusting text size
You can adjust the text size for the Wigan Council website by pressing any of the three text size links at the top right hand corner of every page. This won't change the text size on other websites.
You can change text size using your browser. Pressing Ctrl and + or Ctrl and - will change the text size of most modern browsers (not including Internet Explorer 6). Pressing Ctrl and 0 will change text to the default size.
Suggestions
This page along with the rest of the website will continue to evolve. We welcome any suggestions for improvements to the help page.
