Feedback results from the Dec 2013 - Jan 2014 website survey

A big thank you to all who completed the survey. I have read all the comments and have begun the  adjustments to the site.

95 surveys were completed and on the whole I think the new design faired rather well, the majority of testers responded that they found the general information pages fairly easily. It was also interesting to see which routes people took to get to certain information and this wasn't always the way I thought they'd go.

The below lists the responses to the question 'How easy was it to find this information' from the 7 questions 'Under what section'?

Question 1: Under what section is Bullying advice for parents? 

• 28 very easy 
• 28 fairly easy 
• 5 couldn't find it

Question 2: Under what section did you find the 'Report lost or found' property form?

•  9 very easy
• 21 fairly easy
• 22 couldn't find

In response to the high level of people who couldn't fins, I have raised the form widget on the contact homepage above the fold and changed the homepage top right link icon to online forms which now links directly to the Contact forms page which includes a right-hand-button column direct to this form and to Crimestoppers, Action Fraud and True vision (report hate crime).

Question 3: Under what section is Court and convicted and how many people are listed under Cornwall & Isles of Scilly?

• 27 very easy
• 25 fairly easy
• 2 couldn't find

Question 4: Under what section is there information on how to keep your home safe from burglars?

• 22 very easy
• 31 fairly easy
• 9 couldn't find

Question 5: If you wanted to find out who could help a friend with an addiction problem which section would you look under and was the list of websites helpful?

• 34 very easy
• 34 fairly easy
• 5 couldn't find

Question 6: On the homepage of Barnstaple Central Town  what is the totoal number of reported crimes?

• 23 very easy
• 23 faily easy
• 23 couldn't find

The large number who couldn't find I think is due to, as one person pointed out, that the form for selecting a neighbourhood wasn't working and the link underneath the form was being missed. While observing people using websites I have noted that they are drawn first to interesting shaped elements on a page and they tend to read a paragraph of text as the last resort when they are looking for something. They also tend to hop back to the homepage and start again if they cannot find what they are looking for fairly quickly.

Question 7: If you wanted to submit a Freedom of Information request which area would you find it under?

• 33 very easy
• 23 fairly easy
• 9 couldn't find

Most went to Your right to Information and a few to What we do.  One person thought there was too much text on the homepage of the Your right to information and thought the button navigation should be used here. A couple of people pointed out that the site map needed to be re-examined.

Other results to note

Overall, how easy was the site to navigate?

• 19 very easy
• 41 fairly easy
• 5 very difficult

No problems were reported with the overall site performance, although one person was very frustrated by the broken link message that they kept seeing, another noted that it was good that it was a responsive site and another still that even though their browser and computer system was ancient it they had no problem accessing the site.

3 people used accessibility software or hardware (they did not say which) and reported no problems as did the 3 who used a tablet.

In conclusion

I am fairly pleased with the results and the site seems to have performed well, although the colour and the graphics came in for a bit of criticism, one recording that the graphics looked like their kid brother had designed them! I took them to mean their kid brother Banksy and was flattered!! I have changed the colour from 'battleship grey' to a pale blue which goes well with the pink that the site uses. I've also made a start on updating some of the graphics and images.

At this moment in time the site is still being tweaked and certain areas are being revisited, but time is moving on and the developers are calling for their template list.

Thanks again to everyone who completed the questionnaire the responses have been very helpful.

Speak soon
Karen