Knowing the Answer

“So what can a website do to make your life easier?”

That question is not always readily answered, but when I met with the Probate / Juvenile Court team, their immediate response was, “We need to get our forms online”. With no central repository, they found themselves filling each request as it came in. While they had a solid collection in digital format, they found themselves sometimes scanning old paper forms, other times having to request a copy from a neighboring county. To compound matters, they received requests over the phone, via email and in person.

We resolved to do the following:

• Create a usable digital version of all of their forms that was not a scanned document.
• Aggregate all of those forms on a staged website that could later be rolled out so that the collection and uploading could happen over time.
• Make the forms as easy to find as possible by segregating the two courts, then dividing the forms by type of need.

After designing and launching the staged website, I helped the team reformat some of the tougher forms. I also worked with them to determine the most clear-cut way of presenting this online library into something that would make sense to someone without a legal background. Marriage license information was designated as an extreme example of just that, so complete instructions were included and we made sure that all of the pages linked to all the others to make learning and finding what you need as easy as possible.

Their team has done an amazing job of collecting and organizing a great deal of information. Once the site has been indexed, I’ll add in search functionality to make the forms even easier to find.