We hope that you find our website as easy to use as possible. This section of the website will tell you about the features available and how to make the most of the website.
If you are new to the internet, BBC WebWise [external link] provide a free online course which may help you learn more about how to use the internet and keeping safe online.
Accessibility policy and statement | Browser support | Cookies | Discussion forum | Documents | External websites | Google Maps |Google Translate | High contrast version of website | Legal disclaimer | Mobile version of website | My Darlington+ | Navigation | Online forms | Online services | Open data | Privacy | Quick links | Rate this page | Searching the website | Social networks | Statistics | Using these pages safely | Videos | Website survey | Websites we look after
This page contains our accessibility policy and statement, which includes information about how to access the website in different browsers and what we are doing to make the website easier to use.
Our browser support page contains information about which web and mobile browsers our website supports.
Our cookies page contains information about how we deal with cookies and the EU e-Privacy directive.
You can have your say about certain issues on our discussion forum [external link].
You can read all the posts without registering, however if you want to post a message you must register [external link].
Our forum is hosted by Website Toolbox [external link] which is a third party organisation and not controlled by us.
More information about our discussion forum and our terms and conditions of posting [external link]
Legal disclaimer for our discussion forum [pdf document]
You will need Adobe Reader [external link] in order to view PDF documents. It is free to download.
We also have Microsoft Word and Excel documents on this website. If you have Microsoft Office installed on your computer you will be able to view them, however there are also free viewers available to download.
Microsoft Word viewer [external link]
Microsoft Excel viewer [external link]
We link to all external websites (pages which are not part of this website) and documents in new windows. If a link points to an external site, it will say so in the link.
Links to other pages on this website will open in the same window.
We get a lot of requests from members of the public asking for us to link to their websites from www.darlington.gov.uk. Although we will consider your request, we reserve the right to refuse to add links to this website.
Our legal disclaimer states that we are not responsible for the content or reliability of websites that we link to.
We use Google Maps on this website - find out how to use it and what maps are available.
Google Translate allows you to translate the majority of pages on our website into over fifty different languages. We hope that this will make more of the content on this website accessible to a wider range of people, including those who do not speak English, or speak English as a second language.
The translate link is on the top right-hand side of the homepage and at the bottom right-hand side of all other pages.
You cannot directly translate documents, but you can paste the content into the Google Translate website [external link]
Google's translations are created by machines - this means that the translation will be of the most common use of a word and may not necessarily take the context a word is used in into account. The translation should still be understandable though. If you feel there are significant errors with the translations then we'd like to hear your comments.
You can view a "high contrast" version of this website. This has been designed so that web users with visual impairments can view the same website information in an easy to read format.
To view the high contrast version of the site, select the high contrast version link at the top of each page. To return to the standard version of the page, select switch back to standard contrast version.
Read our legal disclaimer for this website, including our policies on third party software and linking to other websites.
The is a mobile version of this site where you can access information in a mobile phone friendly format. It has been optimised for mobile devices with a large screen such as an iPhone or an Android but it should still work on other internet enabled phones.
You should automatically be switched to a mobile layout by going to www.darlington.gov.uk on your mobile device. If the 'full site' appears it may be worth checking your phone's browser settings to make sure mobile view options are enabled.
We are currently aware of some users experiencing problems when accessing the mobile version of the website from a BlackBerry. We are working on a fix for this.
My Darlington+ is a free service that lets you create your own mini version of this website and have alerts sent to your email address.
To help with navigation, we have a breadcrumb trail at the top of each page which shows you where you are on the website. You can click on any of the links to move your way back up through the site
The navigation bar at the left-hand side of the page is designed to be as easy to use as possible. The page you are currently on is in bold, whilst folders (sections with multiple pages in them) are in a darker colour.
Our online forms allow you to fill in a variety of forms on this website.
Rather than printing a form off the website, filling it in and posting it off, you can complete the form online and with a click of a button it will be sent to the relevant department. Forms can be completed online at any time!
There is a list of online forms available on our online services page
View our how to use online forms guide [pdf document] to find out how to register and save your progress. You will need to download Java [external link] in order to use online forms.
Please be aware that for Job Vacancies and School admissions, you need to register before completing the form.
Access online forms portal [external link]
Resume a pending form [external link]
Time out
To protect your personal information, all of our online forms have an automatic time-out after 20 minutes. This means that if no changes are made to the form during a 20 minute period, all of the information that you have previously entered into the form will be lost.
If you find the time-out feature is causing problems, there are alternatives available. You can save the form by clicking on the 'complete later' button at the bottom of each form or alternatively, please contact the relevant department who will be able to supply you with an alternative version of the online form.
Visit our online services page to find out what you can do online; including making a payment, applying for goods and services and commenting on issues.
Open data is information which is freely available for use by the public - for example RSS feeds and KML files. There are many examples available on this website.
View our privacy policy to find out how we keep your personal data safe and secure.
A quick link is an easy way to access a particular page (for example, www.darlington.gov.uk/counciltax). It is short, so can easily be remembered, or used on a webpage or newsletter.
You can use this online form to let us know if a page is good, okay or needs improving.
In order to use this, visit the page that you want to comment on and click on the "let us know what you like or don't like about this page" link - you will be taken straight to the form.
Please provide as much detail as you can, for example - any broken links or information you think is inaccurate.
You can remain anonymous, but if you are happy for us to contact you for more details please provide a contact email address.
There are a number of ways which you can search for information on this website:
- A-Z of council services, which lists information alphabetically.
- The Search box, which is available on the top right of every page. Our search is powered by Google.
- The Sitemap which provides you with a view of the website based on different themes such as business and environment.
Darlington Borough Council are on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Flickr and Google+. In our social networks section you can find a list of our accounts, as well as our terms of use and how we will deal with your enquiries.
You can also share information on many social networks by clicking on the buttons at the bottom of every page on this website. This functionality is provided by Addthis [external link]
Find usage statistics for this website
If you are looking at sensitive information (for example, information about domestic abuse) you may need to ensure that people can't see what you have been viewing. Visit our using these pages safely page for more information.
Visit our videos page to view the videos we have added to our website and YouTube channel.
We hold an annual survey to find out what people like and dislike about the website.
The winner of the 2012 web survey is L Cockfield.
Here is a list of websites that are owned and administrated by Darlington Borough Council.
These websites are maintained by us, but the website itself is part of a franchise, or national network:
Domain names
We own a number of domain names which redirect back to this website. These include:
We also manage and maintain a number of social networks on platforms like Facebook and Twitter.