Test results for Local history - find out about

Here is the table of test results for this task. The score on each row is out of a possible total of 20, and the importance column is a rating of 1-5 according to how important testers considered being able to complete this task was.

Filter within results: or click headings to sort.

CouncilNavigationA-ZGoogleSite searchScoreTestsImportance
Argyll and Bute CouncilVery easyVery easyVery easy123
Birmingham City CouncilGave upEasyGave up-23
Birmingham City CouncilDifficultEasyDifficult63
Birmingham City CouncilVery easyVery easyEasy163
Birmingham City CouncilVery easyVery easyVery easy33
Bracknell Forest CouncilGave upVery easyVery easy83
Bristol City CouncilGave upVery easyVery easy83
Calderdale CouncilEasyVery easyVery easy143
Central Bedfordshire CouncilVery easyVery easyVery easy205
Cheshire East CouncilVery easyVery easyVery easy163
Copeland Borough CouncilVery easyEasyEasy33
Coventry City CouncilVery easyVery easyVery easy155
Coventry City CouncilVery easyVery easyVery easy203
Dumfries and Galloway CouncilGave upVery easyDifficult-53
East Ayrshire CouncilEasyVery easyVery easy43
Greater London AuthorityVery easyVery easyDifficult23
Harrow CouncilVery easyVery easyEasy43
Harrow CouncilVery easyGave upGave up-93
Leeds City CouncilDifficultVery easyVery easy123
Liverpool City CouncilGave upGave upGave up-123
Liverpool City CouncilGave upEasyDifficult-23
London Borough of BexleyVery easyEasyVery easy161
London Borough of HackneyDifficultVery easyEasy101
Manchester City CouncilVery easyDifficultDifficult-13
Neath Port Talbot County Borough CouncilGave upVery easyEasy-30
Newcastle City CouncilVery easyVery easyEasy183
Newcastle City CouncilEasyVery easyVery easy143
North Devon CouncilDifficultEasyEasy103
Northamptonshire County CouncilDifficultGave upGave up-83
Nottinghamshire County CouncilEasyEasyVery easy163
Plymouth City CouncilVery easyEasyEasy113
Surrey County CouncilVery easyEasyEasy163
Uttlesford District CouncilGave upEasyVery easy20
Wandsworth CouncilVery easyVery easyEasy63
Warrington Borough CouncilVery easyVery easyVery easy203

Specific comments made about this task

Birmingham City Council - 2013-12-02
/localhistory points to a defunct library page, not a local history landing page; other navigation seriously broken

Birmingham City Council - 2014-02-05
The navigation result was easy because it was found right at the bottom in the 'Leisure, Museums and Parks' section: where you'd expect it to be. The A-Z was very easy because you just had to look for 'Local' in the 'L' section. The internal search was good but you didn't know which one to click on. I like the 'Did you mean' section because if you made an error, it corrected it. The Google result was very easy because the relevant page was right at the top. did umean

Birmingham City Council - 2016-07-15
It exists, but contains disappointingly little content

Bracknell Forest Council - 2014-03-05
The information that most people are likely to be looking for on finding out about their familiy history is quite far down the page, below 'reminiscences groups.' This information could be condenced into a table perhaps?

Bristol City Council - 2013-12-16
Many items on the pop-out navigation from side panel were off the bottom of the screen (on laptop); I had to scroll them up and then hover again. Popup survey requests are irritating. Can't click on main area of text search box - have to click slightly too low in order to focus on it. (OSX / Chrome / Macbook non-retina)

Central Bedfordshire Council - 2014-06-17
This looks like you can report it online but then when you get to the page there is just a phone number so that is a bit confusing.

Coventry City Council - 2014-02-04
All of these methods of searching were very easy. On the home navigation, you had to go into the 'Sports, Leisure and Tourism' section and there would be a box saying 'Local History' on it. This was the same with the Internal and Google search result. The A-Z index was also very easy as you had to go to the letter 'L' and then find 'Local History'.

Dumfries and Galloway Council - 2015-08-18
No specific pages, but subpages relating to the history

Harrow Council - 2013-12-04
Only had a page about how the local history library has moved to the museum.

London Borough of Bexley - 2014-02-13
Works well - google/navigation lead to a parent page - very easy click through though.

London Borough of Hackney - 2014-02-12
Socitm pop-up - evil! Google search takes you to landing page. Internal search looks like Google - so it's fine. But...links open in new window. A to Z doesn't include "history" or "local history". Found under "Archives" but probably wouldn't have known that if hadn't done searches first. Archives under "Leisure and culture". Not immediately evident from home page - went through "Library".

Manchester City Council - 2014-02-14
Internal search produced various pages about the history of various buildings in Manchester (and the inevitable top search result for the archives and local history section of the library which was to a page which said the section is closed), but no section of the site holding the local history of Manchester together. Google search returned a different set of pages, mostly for the local image collection.

Newcastle City Council - 2015-01-05
Took me three attempts before I found the correct category. Explore heritage wasn't a particularly helpful title when looking for local history. A-Z lacked the terms history or heritage.

Northamptonshire County Council - 2014-01-31
There was information about heritage sites as lists of .pdf files, information about what collections the Records Offices holds in the archives (again lists of .pdf files), but no simple overview of the local history of Northamptonshire.

Surrey County Council - 2015-01-05
Whilst there are lots of pages containing local history information, there was no central page for how to get started.

Uttlesford District Council - 2014-12-06
The council website seems geared very much to allowing residents to access services and doesnt cater for visitors to the area or people who wish to visit the area