Navigating the Website
Viewing the Site
Welcome to the City of Richmond website. This is a large site so a few tips might help you navigate to the pages or applications you are looking for.
This help page is intended for desktop, laptop and tablet users with wider screens.
Accessibility
If your computer performs best at higher resolutions and your vision requires larger text you can adjust the text size in one of two ways:
- click the "A A A" icons at the top left of any page in the top utilities menu (see image below);
- or use your browser tools to zoom in on the page.
If you require a screen reader, click on the Browsealoud button.
Browsers and Reading PDF Docs
You will require a current browser application and a recent edition of Acrobat Reader for optimal viewing of this site. Visit the Adobe website to download the free program.
Logging in to your MyRichmond Account
To view your account information from any page on the website, click on the "MyRichmond" button at the top of the utilities bar.
We hope you enjoy exploring Richmond's website. If you have any questions or problems, please use the Customer Feedback form found in the footer to comment, or call our Information Desk for assistance during regular business hours.
If you require assistance with MyRichmond, please visit our MyRichmond Online Help site
Home Page
Returning to the Home Page
The Home Page also has a utilities menu bar above the main navigation at the top of the page (see image below). The utilities menu has a link back to the Home Page and the footer menu provides useful links to popular topics and useful tools and information as well as links to our social media sites. Note that the first background photo will change if you return to Home during your visit.
Categories and Search Tools
Each content category on the main menu will take you to a page that contains a sub-menu system with categories and sub-categories organized in a system of fly-outs which make up the sub-navigation menus. See Navigation System below for more information. If you arrive at a section of the site by using a quick link or shortcut take note of the highlighted category in the main menu at the top and the highlighted tab on the sub-menu on the left.
If you are not sure what category to choose to find what you are looking for you may try the Site Search.
Search Features
You will find search results in the centre column, results filtered and organized by site category in the left column, and in the right column you will see search tools and tips, other site searches for our databases, and sometimes you will find a list of links for pages related to your search term(s). These are suggestions compiled by the site administrator. For example the search term schedule may bring up a list of different types of schedules we have stored on the site. The search bar appears is in a central location on the Home Page below the main navigation menu. On all other site pages, it appears in the top right corner.
Other Home Page Content
Alert Messages
Sometimes a message with a brightly coloured background will appear at the top of all our site pages with an important notice with regard to public health and safety.
Scroll Down for More Topics
As you scroll down the Home Page you will find Quick Links as seen at the bottom of the larger image shown above, and if you continue scrolling you will see additional content as shown in the sample images below including:
- The News Highlights with a button link to more News & Information.
- A few upcoming Events and a button link to our full Calendar of Events Search and another button to Submit an Event to the Calendar or to the an event approvals and permitting system.
- Featured Topics about current projects and local issues the City is working on.
- You will also find a Page Footer with our address and hours of operation and several more links to useful and interesting information or tools. This footer appears on every page in our main site. Some of the home page links are repeated there to make them accessible from other pages on the site.
Sample Topic: News Highlights
Continue scrolling down our Home Page to see two more topics like the one above.
Page Footer Links and Information
Don't overlook the footer links, they can be very useful. In addition to content links the page footer contains the City's address and hours of operation and links to copyright, disclaimer, and link and privacy policies.
Content Pages
Navigation System
When you click on a main menu category topic on any page you will open a new page that displays the secondary menu on the left side, some useful links on the right side and the introduction or "Overview" to that section of the website. The Overview page will also display a link to the site map for that section.
The blue tab in the Main Navigation Bar indicates you current position overall (and will tell you if you have moved to another section of the site).
Sub-Navigation Menus
With the exception of the Home page, and a few others like this one, each page displays a sub-navigation menu on the left hand side of the screen.
As you move the mouse over the sub-menu items, a highlight displays on the item you are positioned on, and items that display an arrow will fly-out to display additional menu levels. Click to display the item you want to view.
Mouse Tip: As you hover over items on the fly-out menu(s), they are highlighted with a yellow icon. Take care to move your cursor to the right or down in a straight horizontal or vertical line and not on the diagonal. Moving the cursor on the diagonal will cause the menus to collapse.
In many cases the page you land on will be part of a group of pages on a given topic. Use the fly-out menu to view all the content in that section.
When a menu topic has an arrow on the right, this indicates there are more topics. If you click on a topic with an arrow pointing right you will be able to view a sub-site menu
In some cases more topics available for an area than fit on the fly out menus, in this situation an in-page menu is displayed. For example, in Public Safety, if you used the fly-out menu to select Fire Safety (under Fire-Rescue, Safety & Prevention) several topics are available as shown following.
Alternatively, you click on a sub-menu item:
You will be taken to a category map for that item:
Quick Links for Popular and Related Topics
On the right-hand side of each information page a variety of navigation links display relevant to the section you are viewing. Simply click to display the item you want to view. These links may take you to a popular topic within that section, a related topic in another section, or a link to another site (external sites will open in a new window).
The navigation trail (just below the Main Navigation Bar) shows specifically where you have navigated to. Items listed on the navigation trail are links. On the navigation trail, clicking the link for the main page (in the section you are viewing) displays the site map (link to Site Map help).
To display the overview for the section, click Overview on the Navigation Menu on the left side of the screen.
As you read descriptive text, you'll also notice individual words within the text (as well as in page menus) that appear as hyperlinks. Click any of these contextual links to display information on that item.
If you click a contextual link, you can click your browser's back button to return to the previous page.
Keyword Search
In addition to searching from the home page, you can perform a keyword search from any content page. Simply click to position the cursor in the box at the top right corner of the page, then type your keyword(s) and click Go (or press Enter).
Site Map
The Site Map provides a comprehensive list of all items available in the content category or sub-category you are viewing. The parent sub-category label for any fly-out menu will link to a site map for that subsection when you click on it.
To view the site map for any section in the main menu click the site map link the grey box at the bottom of the overview page. Or click the section title (i.e. Public Safety) in the navigation trail links under the main menu.
To view the site map for the entire site, click the Site Map link at the very bottom of any page in the footer links.
Locating Information
Information can be located in several different ways on the City of Richmond site.
The How Do I Section
The How Do I drop list on the home page has a link labeled more that will take you to a full page of links to frequently requested pages.
Find Contacts
Click on the Contact Us link on the home page to find contacts for departments, frequently called numbers, customer feedback and the Richmond Services Directory main page. You will also find address information there.
Type a service name in the Directory Search field then click Search, or, click a letter at the top of the screen to browse alphabetically.
Getting Help and Submitting Feedback
Tips
You will see navigation tips on some pages to encourage you to look at all the topics in a sub-category menu.
Contact Us
Click Contact Us at the top right in the utilities menu to find out all the ways you can contact us.
Submit Feedback
If you have a specific area that you'd like to submit feedback on, we invite you to use the online Customer Feedback. There is a link in Contact Us and in the footer of every page as well as links for Report a Problem or Request a Service.
All of these links connect to our Customer Service Case Management System.
1/16/2019 10:55:25 AM