Help and how to use our site

Navigating our site

There are various ways of finding the information you need on our website. You can use the:

• navigation bar
• search feature
• breadcrumb trail  

Navigation bar

The site is organised by the navigation bar located on the left side of the page. As you browse through the subject areas, the navigation bar will reman visible, allowing you instant access to other parts of the site. The area you are currently browsing will be highlighted in bold text.

The search feature

Main search box

You'll find a search box at the top right of the page. To use the search feature, type the keyword(s) or phrase related to the information you want to find into the box and click on the 'Go' button.

There are two ways to use the search function to get the most accurate results – the advanced search functions and the filters.

Advanced search functions

The search results page offers advanced search functions which allow you to narrow down your search by date range and document types:

• All (default)
• Hansard
• Proposition
• Report
• Order paper
• Statement
• Question
• Minute

Select 'All' to search all document types, or select a specific document type. 

Once you have selected the document types you'd like to search, click 'Search' again. This will narrow down your results to the document types you have selected.

Click 'New search' to clear your results and category selections and start again.

Using the advanced search functions

• in the search box, type your keyword(s) or phrase and click 'Go'. You will be directed to a search results page
• select a date range 
• in the 'Document type' field, untick 'All' and then tick your preferred document type 
• click 'Search'
• your results will be narrowed down
• narrow down your results further by using the filters

Search filters

You can narrow your search results by using the filters to the right of the page. Expand each filter by clicking on the group heading (displayed as a grey box with white text). Click on your selected filter; it will be marked with a red 'X'. To remove your selected filter, click on the filter title again.

You can filter your results by:

• document type
• document status
• year / month
• committee / panel
• presented by
• answered by
• lodged by

Once the filter group has expanded, you will notice a series of filters within that group. For example, the following filters appear under 'By document type':

• Propositions
• Minutes
• Questions
• Hansard
• Reports
• Order Papers
• Statements
• Committee Reports

The number in brackets to the right of the filter indicates the total number of documents within that filter generated by your search query. 'Propositions (38)' means that there are 38 propositions containing your search term.

Using the filters

To search for propositions containing the term 'business plan' from March 2011, follow these steps:

• type 'business plan' into the search bar and click 'Go'. You will be directed to a search results page
• on the 'By document type' filter, click 'Propositions'. Your results will be narrowed down to propositions only
• the 'By year' filter will automatically expand. Click on '2011'. This will narrow your results down to propositions, containing the term 'business plan',  from 2011 only
• click on the 'By month' filter to expand it. Click on 'March'. This will narrow your results down to propositions, containing the term 'business plan', from March 2011 only
• you can then further narrow down your results, for example by the minister that lodged it

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Breadcrumb trail

The breadcrumb trail is found below the States Assembly logo (in the page header) on each page of the site. The breadcrumb tells you where you are in the site and how you got there. A breadcrumb trail looks like this:
 
Home > About the States Assembly > States Greffe

Each section in the breadcrumb trail is also a link, so you can click on it to take you back to the previous level you visited.

Contact details and your feedback

Beneath the search box on the top right of the page, you'll find a link to the 'Contact us' page.

Bookmark our site

If you're a regular visitor to our site, you may find it useful to add us as a bookmark. Once you've bookmarked our site, you'll be able to access it quickly and easily every time you need to use it.

If you've bookmarked pages from our old site, these may no longer work and you'll need to add them again.