FOOTNOTES

1. A set of guidelines produced for website developers to ensure that their website content is accessible for people with disabilities http://www.w3.org/WAI/guid-tech.html

2. A unique visitor is defined as a host (computer) that has made at least 1 hit on 1 page in the the reporting period. If this host (computer) makes several visits during this period, it is counted only once. It should be noted that website statistics are not always completely accurate.

3. As website statistics are not always completely accurate, it is not possible to calculate an exact response rate.

4. Frequent users are defined as those who selected ‘all or most days’ and those who selected ‘once or twice a week’ in response to the question "How often have you used the Transport Scotland website in the last six months?" Infrequent users are defined as those who selected ‘once or twice in the last month’ ‘once or twice in the last three months’ and those who selected ‘once or twice in the last six month’ in response to the aforementioned question.

5. Those aged sixty or over and many disabled people who live in Scotland are able to travel free on any local bus and scheduled long distance coach services in Scotland throughout the day. Additionally, all 16 to 18 year olds and young full-time volunteers up to the age of 25 are entitled to concessionary travel on buses, rail and ferries throughout Scotland. The young person’s scheme provides a third off bus and rail travel throughout Scotland and gives those who live on a Scottish Island two free return ferry journeys to the mainland each year. See http://www.transportscotland.gov.uk/concessionarytravel for more details.

6. The Glasgow View, Douglas Street, Glasgow and 60 Watt Research, West Maitland Street, Edinburgh.

7. Website accessibility refers to the practice of making websites usable for people with disabilities. The Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) are a set of guidelines designed to make websites accessible. There are three priority levels. Web designers must adopt Priority One requirements, otherwise it will be impossible for one or more groups to access the web content. Conformance to this level is described as ‘A’. Web designers should adopt Priority Two requirements, otherwise some groups will have trouble accessing content. Conformance to this level is described as ‘AA’. Web designers may adopt Priority Three requirements, to make it easier for some groups to access content. Conformance to this level is described as ‘AAA’.

8. AbilityNet is a national charity helping disabled adults and children use computers and the internet by adapting and adjusting their technology. AbilityNet offer accessibility auditing, usability testing with diverse users and web development as well as accessibility training courses. Further information about the organisation can be found at www.abilitynet.org.uk

9. A set of guidelines produced for website developers to ensure that their website content is accessible for people with disabilities http://www.w3.org/WAI/guid-tech.html

10. ALT tags present text associated with a web page graphic that gets displayed when the user hovers the mouse over the graphic. ALT tags should convey what the graphic is for or about and contain good relevant keywords. ALT tags make web pages more accessible to the disabled. For example, a vision-impaired user may have a web browser that reads aloud the text and ALT tags on a page.

11. The Web Accessibility Toolbar is a free tool which allows for the manual testing of website accessibility. It can be downloaded from http://www.visionaustralia.org.au/ais/toolbar

12. A unique visitor is defined as a host (computer) that has made at least 1 hit on 1 page in the the reporting period. If this host (computer) makes several visits during this period, it is counted only once.

13. Visitor statistics for the month of August 2008 taken from the AWstats web statistics for the Transport Scotland website.

14. ALT tags present text associated with a web page graphic that gets displayed when the user hovers the mouse over the graphic. ALT tags should convey what the graphic is for or about and contain relevant keywords. ALT tags make web pages more accessible to the disabled users. For example, a vision-impaired user may have a web browser that reads aloud the text and ALT tags on a page.

15. This is the page reached when clicking the ‘Road’ link in the primary navigation menu www.transportscotland.gov.uk/road

16. Further information on how this task was completed can be found in Appendix Four.

17. A review of how users completed the tasks can be found in Appendix Four.

18. A microsite is a term describing an individual webpage or cluster of pages which are meant to function as an auxiliary supplement to a primary website. The microsite's main landing page is likely to have its own website address.

19. Scot-TAG is Transport Scotland’s web based information source for transport analysis guidance. Scot-TAG, which is an acronym for Scottish Transport Analysis Guide, is intended to provide transport practitioners working on Scottish based transport projects, or any other interested party, with access to the latest information and guidance that they will need when developing and assessing transport schemes and strategies.

20. See Chapter Ten for interest among stakeholders for the e-newsletter

21. The Web Accessibility Toolbar is a free tool which allows for the manual testing of website accessibility. It can be downloaded from http://www.visionaustralia.org.au/ais/toolbar

22. See Chapter Eight for a more detailed discussion on the usability of the e-newsletter subscription form and Chapter Ten for further information on interest in the e-mail newsletters among key stakeholders.