Horley Town Council
Client Brief
Horley Town Council approached TNC (IT Solutions) Ltd to develop a basic website for them as far back
as the late 1990s. The original brief was to provide a community based website with basic information
for local people and tourists passing through the town. After a significant amount of success Horley
Town Council produced a new brief to improve the website with a new design and a host of new features
such as a directory for local facilities and local businesses.
The Solution
TNC (IT Solutions) Ltd developed a new design concept which provided a simple navigational structure
through a significantly expanded website. The website has been divided into 3 sections for council
information, community information and businesses. The website content from the original website formed
the basis of the community section while new information was gathered to fill the council section. The
business section was created and local businesses were invited to add their own entries online which were subject
to approval before being listed within the website. A news section was added and quick links provided
on the home page which linked through to significant parts of the website.
The website was developed in ASP.Net 1.1 but later upgraded to Asp.Net 2.0. The website has an access
database to hold the dynamic content of the website.
Features
The Horley Town Council website includes an extensive range of features which can be accessed via a
management console. Some of these include:
Business Directory – A basic business directory was created so that local business could
advertise their services on the internet. Local businesses can apply for a listing by completing an online form
which enters their listings into a database. An email notification of the new listing is generated and sent to the
council so that they can log on, approve, edit or disprove the listing.
Local Services Directory – A similar directory was created to display local services available to the
community. Additions to this directory were made direct by council staff using a management console.
Documents Library – Local councils have an obligation under the freedom of Information Act to ensure
that the public have access to certain council documents. A documents library was created to allow council
staff to upload documents onto the website so that members of the public can download these documents.
Accessibility Considerations – Local government have an obligation to ensure that their facilities are
as accessible to all parts of the community as possible. Within the design of the website users have the
option to turn off the style sheet and therefore view the website in text only mode. This makes the material
easier to read without the distraction of other back ground features used within the design. The code is
written so that a screen reader will read the page content in a logical fashion.
Additional Services
Horley Town Council have adopted our management package to ensure that we deal with any technical
problems relating to the website. The package also includes a wide range of reports giving a constant view
of the traffic visiting the website, where the website is listed and who links to it.