Navigation
This website contains various types of navigation which you can use to move through the site:
- Header navigation
- Primary navigation (section tabs)
- Secondary navigation (left menu)
- Breadcrumbs
- Related links or 'most viewed' links
- Footer navigation
- Skip links
- Logical tab order
Header navigation
Header navigation is available at the top of all pages on this website and includes links to the home page, help pages and search functions. Links available from the header navigation include:
- Queensland Government logo - links to the Queensland Government gateway website (www.qld.gov.au) from any page.
- Child Safety icon - links to our website home page.
- Home - links to our website home page.
- Site map - an ordered index of all the pages in our website.
- Contact us - links to contact information for our department and the website feedback form.
- Help - tips on using our website, including special features.
- Search - enter keywords in the box to search for information on this website.
- Department of Child Safety title - links to our website home page.
Primary navigation (section tabs)
The next level of navigation is the primary navigation (the horizontal 'section tabs'), located directly under the header navigation on each page. These relate to the primary information sections of the website.
- If using a mouse, move your cursor over a topic to activate the section page link.
- If using the keyboard, tab to the topic to activate the section page link.
Each section contains information related to the section topic. For example, all pages related to adoption can be found under the 'Adoption' tab. To view the contents of a section, select the navigation tab.
Secondary navigation (left menu)
The secondary navigation (left side menu) appears only only content pages and provides a list of links to the other web pages contained in the same section of the website you are currently viewing.
These menus often contain further menus which are hidden at first. When you see a small (+) inside the circle to the left of a menu item, this indicates there are more menu options below that. You will see these options when you select the relevant menu item.
Selecting the bold heading at the top of a secondary navigation menu (e.g. "Help" in the example shown) will return you to the starting page for that section of the website.
Breadcrumbs
Page 'breadcrumbs' are a kind of trail showing where the page you are currently viewing 'lives' in the structure of information in the website. You will see breadcrumbs immediately above the heading of each content page in the website.
Breadcrumbs show you what page of the website you are viewing and the path back to the home page from that page. In the example show above, the 'Navigation' page you are now viewing is part of the 'Help' section of the website, which is immediately below the home page.
Breadcrumbs allow you to use the topic links displayed to go to any page along that path. Note: The page you are viewing, is not displayed as an active link.
To return to the previous page you were viewing, you can also use the 'back' button on your web browser.
Related links or 'most viewed' links
Related links are available in the right hand panel of certain content pages throughout the website and show links to other content connected with the topic you are viewing on the page.
On index (section) pages of the website, in the same location, you will see 'most viewed' links which are fast tracks to the content in that section which is most requested by our visitors. These will change on a regular basis as user demands for information change over time.
Note: Some links in the right side 'feature' panel open downloadable documents related to the topic or open links to other internet websites.
Footer navigation
The footer menu is located at the bottom of each page of this website. It contains the following topic links:
- Copyright - links to the copyright notice and policy governing reproduction of content or links to content in this website.
- Disclaimer - a legal notice specifying known limitations or issues relating to the use of information published on this website.
- Privacy - a legal notice specifying how we gather and use information on this website, with a link to departmental privacy policy.
- Access keys - information to assist users to access certain information using only the keyboard.
- Other languages - a link to the Queensland Government's help information on viewing online information in languages other than English.
- Queensland Government - a link to the Queensland Government gateway website that has information about other Queensland Government departments and services online.
Skip links
If you are using an assistive technology such as a screen reader to browse this website, skip links are provided at the beginning of the page to allow you to move quickly to key information such as the primary navigation, secondary navigation or content. These links are not visible in a graphical browser.
Logical tab order
This website has a logical tab order to allow navigation of the site without a mouse.
- Use the Tab key on your keyboard to move to the next link or field in the logical tab order, which starts at the top left of the page and moves left-to-right, top-to-bottom, through each of the major links on the page.
- Use Shift + Tab to move backwards, and the Enter key (or Return on the Mac) to follow links and submit forms.
Most web browsers support these functions.
- Last updated
- 30 May 2007