Local council sites improve

Local councils in the UK have made dramatic improvements to their websites in the past year, according to a report.

A study by usability company Webcredible has found that councils such as Clackmannanshire, Greenwich, Haringey and Southwark have made major improvements to the services they offer people living within their districts.

After a similar study last year found that many local council websites were lacking in areas such as navigation and support for important tasks such as paying council tax.

Trenton Moss, director at Webcredible, said: "This year's study shows that council sites have been much better at providing simple navigation of their websites and prioritising and displaying key information."

However, there are still areas that need to be improved, the report said. Clear text resizing controls and intelligent search facilities that can understand common spelling errors are still missing from many of the sites, according to Webcredible.

Do you use your local authority's website? How easy is it to use? Have your say in the Web User forums.

www.webcredible.co.uk