The Indian Institute of Technology Delhi's DAKSH Centre of Excellence (CoE) for Law at Technology has released a report on six High Court websites. The report includes an analysis and suggestions for different aspects of the usability and functionality of the High Court websites of Bombay, Calcutta, Delhi, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh and Madras. The report, an IIT Delhi statement said, was based on a first-of-its-kind study and has been made after evaluating their UI/UX design. The report was launched by Justice S Ravindra Bhat of the Supreme Court of India on August 26.
“Key highlights of the report include several low-hanging fruits such as appropriate placement of contact and RTI based information as well as the need for and detailed analysis of navigation efficiency and aesthetics,” added the IIT Delhi statement.
The report highlights some points about the UI/UX of the High Court websites including their speed, performance on interaction design principles.
Speaking on the launch of the report, Justice S Ravindra Bhat said: “It is important we involved in court administration should realize the full potential of the court websites and one of the methods should be this kind of reports. This can lead to the involvement of a larger general public.”
“Ultimately people who are getting the benefits are the users of these court websites. From a service angle we are the service providers, and they are the service recipients, and it is important to involve them and on that note this kind of report is very important. I congratulate the team for this report and wish all the best for future endeavors of IIT Delhi in collaboration with DAKSH,” the Justice added.
Professor V Ramgopal Rao, Director, IIT Delhi, in his welcome address said: “At IIT Delhi we are now getting into areas at the intersection of law and technology and we have also signed an MoU with NLU Delhi on that note.”
He also addressed to Justice Bhat that “the initiatives we take ultimately need to be useful to people like you. Under your guidance and leadership, if we are able to carry out activities, which the community can make use of, we will consider our efforts fruitful.”
Professor Aneesha Sharma from the Department of Design, IIT Delhi, who was part of the panel discussion for the launch of the report said: “Any design or UI/UX of any website should be very intuitive and it should not be required to instruct the user on how to use it. We do not ask for site maps to use... We need to conduct such research and designs for improving our court and government websites.”
Professor Nomesh Bolia, Co-ordinator, DAKSH CoE, IIT Delhi said, “Court websites are more often than not complex to navigate for not only the citizens and litigants but also for legal representatives and researchers across the globe. This inspired the Daksh Centre of Excellence at IIT Delhi to conduct a study of the UI/UX of the websites of the six High Courts across India.”
