Writing for this website
Design and layout
South Tyneside Council provides this website to deliver clear information and online services for residents.
It is purposefully designed to be as simple and easy to use as possible, for everyone who needs to use it.
We keep the design and layout of the website simple by:
- displaying text in a large, easy to read font
- avoiding bright, contrasting colours
- avoiding decorative images
- keeping interactive features as easy to use as possible
- only adding new design features if it will help the user to understand information or complete a task
We do this because:
- some people have disabilities, such as dyslexia, that make it difficult to read text
- some people have difficulties using a mouse, and use a keyboard to move around the website
- some people use software to read the text out loud, and need information to be laid out as simply as possible
- it provides value for money for our residents, by focussing on easy to use information and online services, rather than unnecessary features
Standard templates
We use standard templates to display information:
Menu pages
Menu pages are used to group together sections of the website about a similar topic, for example:
Content pages
Content pages are used to provide information about a specific subject.
They include a list of contents at the top of the page, with headings for the information we know people will be looking for.
We avoid using frequently asked questions, and instead group similar information under clear headings.
The web pages you are reading now ('writing for this website') are a good example of content pages.
You can see other examples here: