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Comment by ronaldx | Hacker News Reader

What I typically go to a council website to do: find out the cost of council tax in band D in 2013-14.

I am still clicking around... can anyone find it, I wonder?

Yup. Click on "Council Tax" on the homepage... then "Can't find it? Other council tax services"... then "See your council tax band" (Rounded red button)

So you're 3 clicks deep (having searched around a bit, I guess) and you still don't have a number...

That's not too bad for an information-dense site. You've not had many page loads.

Plus, you can find it very easily by putting "council tax band" into the search box.

Maybe you think "very easily", but I searched around for 10 minutes unable to find the numerical information required. I had concluded it didn't exist in tabulated form, so thanks for confirming I was wrong - although I'm still not sure if this is accessible via natural links.

Here's a particularly unhelpful FAQ, which says the data is "displayed on our web pages" http://www.manchester.gov.uk/faqs/faq/19013/what_can_i_do_if...

What I find bad about that - is that I know my way around a website, and I couldn't find the required information. I found it with ease on other council website suggested in the comments (Lambeth, Gateshead, Birmingham: all 2-3 links deep)

If we want people to look for information on the web rather than blocking council call centres: this website is not the right way.

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