About this site
Locating content on this site
There are a number of ways to access content on this site.
- Use the home page dynamic navigation. It gives one-click access to all content areas.
- Use the Site Map, a one page text version of the dynamic navigation, with links to all content areas.
- Use the Search facility to locate content. Use the Advanced Search option to refine your search.
- Go to the Publications section for a list of all publications on the site.
- Look at the What's New section on the homepage for the latest news.
Search tips
Searching webpages
- When searching through webpages, this site search engine searches for the exact word or phrase that you enter (eg, 'building,' 'information for designers'). Content with the most occurences of the exact phrase will appear highest in the search ranking. Content containing only partial matches of the phrase is excluded from search results.
- The search does not give a higher ranking to webpages that are heavily visited by users.
Searching PDFs and other downloadable files
- A lot of the information in this website is available in PDF. Some information is currently available in PDF only. In search results, PDF files are indicated by the
icon.
- This site search does not automatically include PDF files in search results. To include PDFs in your search, check the 'Downloadable files' box on the advanced search page.
- When searching through PDFs and other downloadable files, this site search engine gives a higher ranking to content with the most occurences of the exact phrase. Content containing only partial matches of the phrase appears lower down the search results.
- Unlike when searching webpages, the site search gives a higher ranking to PDFs that are downloaded heavily by users.
Searching archived content
The site search will not search through archived content unless the 'Archived content' check box on the advanced search page is checked.
The following content is archived.
Other ways of searching content
- Use the Building A-Z and Tenancy A-Z for finding introductory information on a subject, and following the links to more detailed content elsewhere in the site.
- The site map shows the higher level structure of information on this website.
Accessibility features
The Department of Building and Housing has designed this website to be accessible for a wide range of users, including people with disabilities. The site is designed to meet the HTML 4.01 specification, and to meet the as much as is practical of the highest level recommendations (Level 3) of the Web Accessibility Initiative. These initiatives assist users of assistive or alternative technologies to access and use the site with minimum difficulty. More information can be found at www.w3.org.
Changing text size
You can customise the font size to suit your personal preference. Most web browsers provide this option under the View menu. Below is a screenshot of Internet Explorer's ‘text size’ options.
Users of recent versions of Netscape, Mozilla and Firefox offer an ‘Increase text size’ or ‘Text zoom’ option under the View menu. Alternatively, you can hold down the Ctrl key and hit + or – to progressively increase or decrease text size. Opera users will find a ‘Zoom’ option under the View menu. Safari users can select the Advanced menu, check the box labeled ‘never use fonts smaller than the selected size’, and select a size from the pop-up menu.
If you require more details about customising text size, refer the Help menu on your browser toolbar.
Navigating by keyboard
Users of screen readers or other assistive technologies can use the ‘[‘ access key to skip the navigation blocks and jump directly to the start of the content of any page.
Listed below are the short-cut keys for accessing information on this website. Other short-cut keys are standard, but vary from browser to browser.
When you have accessed your chosen content area you can then use the TAB key to move from link to link.
Short-cut keys
Windows: use alt+[number]+Enter to use with IE5x. For Netscape 6x just use Alt+[number].
Macintosh: same as above but use Ctrl instead of Alt.
| Key |
Function |
| 1 |
Home |
| 2 |
Sitemap |
| 3 |
Search |
| 4 |
Tenancy |
| 5 |
Building |
| 6 |
Weathertightness |
| 7 |
Consulting on |
| 8 |
Publications |
| 9 |
Contact Us |
| 0 |
Help |
| / |
newzealand.govt.nz |
| [ |
Beginning of main content of each page |
Tab order
You can use the Tab key to move through page links. The following tab order is consistent on every page.
Tabbing order starts with the link back to the home page (under the Department’s logo on the top left of the page), then moves through the search box and the utility links (help, sitemap and accessibility) at the top of the page.
Next you tab through the main navigation strip/s at the top of the page.
On lower-level pages, you next tab through the section navigation at the left of the page.
Continuing to tab will then take you though the links in the 'feature' box on the right-hand side of most pages, and finally through the links in the content and the page footer.
You can also use the Shift+Tab keys to tab backwards starting from the bottom of the page.
Fluid page layout
The ‘fluid’ page layout used on this website allows the pages to ‘stretch’ to fill the maximum space available. This means no matter what your browser window size or screen resolution, the website adapts itself to the space available. This avoids horizontal scrolling at small resolutions, and should make the site easier to browse with screen magnifying software.
Style sheets
This website makes use of style sheets to control page layout, making the content of the pages more readily accessible to users of assistive technologies such as screen readers. Not all browsers support style sheets, but the site is still usable in the absence of style sheets.
Tables are only used on this site to lay out tabular data.
Content
The content on this website is properly structured for semantic correctness. Page headings conform to a hierarchy of heading levels 1 through 4. This allows users of JAWS and other screen readers to obtain a list of headings on the page to assist their comprehension of the document, or to jump to the next heading.
Where forms are used on the site, labels have been explicitly associated with the form field or control that they describe. This assists users of some speech software.
Help with PDF files
The following advice will help you get the most out of PDF files. The Department publishes its hard copy documents in PDF to provide an electronic format that preserves the layout and appearance of these documents for convenient download from the Web.
PDF files can be viewed, downloaded, printed and shared by anyone who has Adobe Acrobat Reader installed on their computer. Acrobat Reader is available for free download from the Adobe website. For full website compatibility, it is recommended users have version 5 of Adobe Acrobat Reader installed. Continue for more help with PDF documents. »
Disclaimer and copyright
By using this website you agree to be legally bound by the following terms, which shall take effect immediately on your first use of the site. If you do not agree to be legally bound by all the following terms, please do not access or use this site.
Disclaimer
The information available on or through this website is intended to provide general information to the public. All reasonable measures have been taken to ensure the quality and accuracy of the information available on or through this website as at the date of posting. However, if you find any information that you believe may be inaccurate, please let us know about it by sending an email to info@dbh.govt.nz
The Department of Building and Housing:
- may change, delete, add to or otherwise amend information contained on this website without notice
- is not responsible for the content of other websites linked to or referenced from this site.
The Department of Building and Housing neither endorses the information, content, presentation or accuracy of such other websites, nor makes any warranty, express or implied, regarding these other sites.
The information available on this website is not intended to cover every situation, and details that may be relevant to a user’s particular circumstances may have been omitted.
In particular, the information in the archive is not up to date. The Department makes this archived information available as historic reference material only. It should not be relied on as being accurate.
Accordingly, users are advised to seek independent professional advice before applying any information contained on this site to their own particular circumstances. The Department of Building and Housing shall not be held liable for any claim for any loss or damage as a result of reliance on the information contained in this website.
Each page on this website must be read in conjunction with these terms and any other terms that form part of it.
Continue reading copyright and privacy information »
Site Owner
This website is owned by the Department of Building and Housing.
