Most courts and legal aid groups have websites to help the public. They have rights, forms, guides, contact forms, and intake sign-ups to help people get help in a crisis.
But are these websites set up to be as discoverable, usable, and effective as they can be?
Based on our review of the key setup & features of a website, we have focused on 4 key areas for a well-designed website: discovery, technology, content, and interface design. We’ve been reviewing and ranking sites on how they do in these 4 areas.
We have taken one step back from these detailed rankings & seen an overall model emerging. We’re ranking regions around the country regarding their website coverage & performance.
Where are they on this 5-option maturity model?
The key indicators and decisions are about those 4 areas. But we find that many websites that have problems in one area (like not having plain language content) also have problems in other areas (like outdated technology and poor discoverability).
That is why we are now grouping websites into this overall maturity model, to help regional leaders see if their local legal help websites are mature enough to serve the public as they’re intended to.