Help with using the Whangarei District Council website This is a Help page for users of this website. It covers RSS, PDF, Forms and Searching. Page Content RSS Explained | PDF Documents | Searching Tips | Accessibility | About this Site | Agendas Online | Further Help RSS Explained RSS is short for Really Simple Syndication. It is a web-based system that allows users to receive new published content without having to visit individual websites or check emails. One way you can get the latest Whangarei District Council news releases is by using our RSS news feed. The council plans to expand its RSS service over time. Using RSS First you need to download a piece of software called an RSS Reader. There are many Readers available on the internet. The following link has a list of RSS Readers available for download: RSS tools Download.com website Once you have downloaded an RSS Reader, go to the following links and copy and paste the council's RSS feed addresses into your Reader. Whangarei District Council's News RSS Feed The latest council news content will then be delivered to your RSS Reader, as it is published. Whangarei District Council's Updated Documents RSS Feed The latest updated documents content will then be delivered to your RSS Reader, as it is published. PDF Documents Some documents on this site are Portable Document Format (PDF). In this format you can easily save, view and print the file exactly as it was created, with the same layout, images etc. To do this you need software called Adobe Acrobat Reader. This is free and simple to download from from the Adobe website . If you have problems or want to know the basics of how to use PDFs the Adobe site has plenty of help available here . Acrobat Reader program also has a help function. Click on Help from the menu bar at the top of the screen and then select Reader Guide from the drop down menu. Downloading PDFs Forms and instructions can be downloaded using Acrobat Reader . The forms are PDF fill-in forms which users will be able to complete onscreen, print out, and fax in. The free Adobe Acrobat Reader does not allow you to save your completed forms. You can save your completed forms if you use Acrobat Approval or the full Acrobat Standard or Professional Programs. Acrobat Approval is no longer available, but existing versions will work. If you are having difficulty downloading a PDF, please make sure you have the most recent version of Adobe Acrobat Reader. If you need further help, try Adobe's customer support . If you only see a blank page when you download the PDF, usually you are not waiting long enough for the file to download. If you have this problem, or would like to speed the download a bit, please try this: Instead of clicking on the link for the PDF, right-click. On the pop-up menu select "Save Target As" (Internet Explorer) or "Save Link As" (Netscape). Select the place on your hard drive to save the file, and the name. Once you click Save, the file will download to your computer hard drive. Once the file has downloaded, you can double-click on it to open it. It is usually quicker to download the file this way, because it is downloading the file immediately instead of waiting for your Acrobat program to open before downloading the file. Instructions for Using Fill-in Forms If you are using the free Acrobat Reader: Before you start to fill out a form, please make sure that you have all the correct, final information available. You may wish to print the forms first, fill them out by hand, and ensure their accuracy before filling in the final forms on your computer. As Adobe Acrobat Reader does not allow you to save the form once it is filled out , you will be unable to go back and retrieve or edit information once you close the window containing the forms. You must print out the forms before you close the window or you will lose the information you have entered. With multi-page documents, you may want to proofread and print each page as you complete it. To complete the forms: If your cursor is not already in the shape of a "hand", select the "hand" tool from the Acrobat toolbar menu. This will allow you to move the page around to see each portion. Move the "hand" pointer over a form box on the document. The "hand" should turn into an "I-beam." The "I-beam" signifies a "fill-in" section of the form. Click inside the box. You can now type into the box. When the pointer hovers over a check box, button, or item list, it will turn into a hand with one finger pointing. This means you can select the item. Fill out the form by typing text into the appropriate areas and checking boxes where needed. (Boxes can be checked either by clicking on the box with your mouse or by tabbing into the box and hitting the "enter" key.) To move from field to field, use the Tab key. Shift + Tab will move you to the previous field. Print the form using the "print" icon in the Acrobat toolbar menu, not the print icon or command in your Web browser. If you print using your Web browser's print command instead of the Acrobat command, the contents of the fields might not print properly. Check the printed forms very carefully for any errors, fields that did not print, or omissions. You may go back and make changes to any of the fields in your open document and then reprint it. Searching Tips The search for the website is at the top of this website, it appears on every page. By default our website search is a keyword search. However, there are five methods to find information through-out the web site: 'A to Z' This is an A to Z of all the main links on the website, listed alphabetically and grouped by the first letter of each link, e.g. Animal Control can be found under 'A'. 'Keyword' search By default our website search is a keyword search and will search for all instances of the word your enter. WDC has setup keywords for phrases and can be typed as one word (without spaces between each word) eg. districtplan. If you do not take the spaces out of the search, e.g. "District Plan", the search function will search for all documents with "District" in their title or description and then all documents with "Plan". It will return a list of every document that has the word "District" OR "Plan" in their title or description. Therefore, it is best to shorten your search terms or try the words without spaces. Here are some hints that could help you when trying to use a keyword. Make sure the keyword is all lower case letters Make sure the keyword has no spaces in it Make sure the keyword option is selected in the dropdown box (if using this option) Examples of keywords that are in the system already are: ltccp civildefence rubbish rates 'Frequently Asked Questions' View commonly asked questions listed by subject. 'Site Map' View the entire site structure and choose which topic/subject you would like to visit. Menu Structure You can navigate through the menu structure which allows you to navigate your way to documents via our 'Topics / Services Menu'. Further Help If you would like more information on the differing technologies and document types that can be found on this website, please click here. If for any reason you would like further assistance, please email mailroom@wdc.govt.nz