The web developer’s viewpoint Beating both the websites reviewed in this column to date — namely the websites of Clifford Chance (CC) and Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer — Linklaters has set the standard for 2005 by taking the lead over Freshfields, albeit by a margin of just over 2%. Alongside its rivals the design and usability of Linklaters’ website are midranking, but it is the scope of the website’s content that gives it the edge.
Analysing the content in more detail, Linklaters’ web-site includes most of the criteria we look for, omitting only relatively minor items such as links to relevant third-party websites and an ability to submit general enquiries via an online enquiry form. All the other boxes have been ticked as, among other criteria, we find that the news and deals pages appear to be up to date, partners’ information is readily available, careers opportunities are featured and extensive additional content and services are available in the suite of online tools.
Attention to detail is evident as well: in accordance with the European Commission e-commerce directive — details of the firm’s membership of the Law Society and VAT number have been included.
Usability often presents a stumbling block for larger websites: just how do you present so much information without the website becoming unwieldy? And then there is the closely associated issue of accessibility, which must also be taken into consideration. Ideally, both these issues should be tackled at the design stage, but many firms are having to re-engineer their website to be compliant.
Although the Linklaters website is generally well laid out and easy to navigate, a check on some accessibilityrelated issues suggests that the website is not yet compliant with the minimum level required under the Disability Discrimination Act.
As a separate issue we encourage website owners to provide a ‘print this page’ button on every page — to act as a back-up to the browser’s own print button — but Linklaters has not provided such a feature.
The minimalist style of the website risks appearing somewhat bland and functional, but could be improved by discreetly incorporating more colour into the design. However, the website’s clean style ensures that seeking and extracting information is straightforward and the use of black text on white background throughout is easy on the eye. In terms of screen space usage there is a good balance between the menus, images and text, and images used are both appropriate and of consistently good quality. When using plug-ins we advise against relying solely on Adobe Acrobat (pdf) for downloads. Despite their apparent ubiquity, some plug-ins are not yet truly standard and consequently users unable to down-load such software could experience access problems. Hence we recommend that documents be offered in, say, Microsoft Word format as well as Adobe Acrobat.
Based on our revised scoring system for 2005, Link-laters achieves an overall score of 85.8%. In individual categories the website scored 93.8% for content, 74% for usability and 89.6% for design. Linklaters takes the lead so far, beating both CC and Freshfields.
Please note that for the purposes of this review we have not assessed the password-protected content. Websites were viewed on a resolution of 1024 x 768 pixels, reflecting the increasing popularity of higher resolution screens.
James Tuke is managing director and Mary-Ann Cabaio is senior web developer at Intendance, a web design and consulting house.
The brand designer’s viewpoint
Initial viewing of the Linklaters website presents a stylish and contemporary feel. This is coupled with a complementary use of fonts and a simplistic, yet, strong colour scheme making it a positive and confident site. The information is well presented and navigation of the site is well organised.
Each page has a specific scroll bar or roll-over to help you find the information you need more efficiently and with the use of top stories roll-overs and a picture-based soundbite for further information, the viewer is given easy access to further sources making the overall experience a relaxed and non-stressful one.
The use of a top line hierarchy is quite clever, so that each time you open a new page, you are greeted with a new Linklaters quote, varying from ‘seeing things differently’ and ‘commercially speaking’ to ‘a measure of success’.
These little, ever-changing pull quotes portray Linklaters’ thinking and culture in a highly emotive and up-front persona. They also have a key relevance to the viewer’s particular area of interest.
While the site is smart, corporate and professional, when you connect to the careers section of the site you are greeted with a display that is more relaxed and personal, although still remaining stylised and defined. This section of the site allows you to browse through the personal opinions of the staff throughout the globe, this is all presented in a upbeat, friendly and positive way.
Each profile gives an insight into the individual’s job history, plans for the future and thoughts on their career followed by words of wisdom, which gives perspective clients and applicants a clear, yet non-patronising feel for the firm.
The only criticism is that even though the pages are laid out cleanly and smartly it does get slightly repetitive, though not enough to become tedious. The stark white allows the text to be easily read, yet sometimes you yearn for a bit more colour. Maybe this could be a feature incorporated within the careers area, yet not so much to kill the current style and feel.
First impressions: 68%
Application of branding: 85%
Tone of voice: 80%
Differentiation: 55%
Overall: 74%
Nick Trivuncic is a designer at GM Media.