http://www.lawtechblog.com/ Inherent, Inc. - Law Firm Web Site Design, Development & Hosting Solutions, Law Firm Content Management Systems, Law Firm Blogs - San Francisco | Portland en-us Fri, 04 Jul 2008 18:56:53 GMT Mon, 30 Jun 2008 18:39:00 GMT Blog by Inherent, Inc jeffrey@inherent.com jeffrey@inherent.com http://www.lawtechblog.com/display_blog.cfm?bid=DAC5929F-1438-EEB4-42256371F7689703 One of the big Web announcements last week was that ICANN, the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers, will allow domain names ending in virtually any extension you choose. The top-level domain name is the part of the Web address after the last dot; the most common one is .COM. There's already some discussion online about the possibility of creating top-level domains with a firm's name, so it would appear as www.something.MyGreatFirm instead of www.MyGreatFirm.COM. But if every major corporation in just one country does this, it will be just as confusing as the current system - you'll remember the Web site's name, but not necessarily what that company does. But what if your new Web address were MyGreatFirm.law? Your clients would remember who you are and what you do, and it would make it that much easier for new clients to find you.-- Frances Legal Marketing Mon, 30 Jun 2008 18:39:00 GMT http://www.lawtechblog.com/display_blog.cfm?bid=DAC5929F-1438-EEB4-42256371F7689703 http://www.lawtechblog.com/display_blog.cfm?bid=CB3C0DA0-1438-EEB4-42BD3F502AA3F2D8 According to TheCounter.com, the Firefox browser continues a gradual increase in browser usage, up to about 16% of Web users. Internet Explorer is still the leading browser, but with last weeks release of Firefox 3.0, with more than 8.3 million downloads in the first 24 hours following release, we should expect that browser usage percentage to increase.--Frances Technology Fri, 27 Jun 2008 18:15:00 GMT http://www.lawtechblog.com/display_blog.cfm?bid=CB3C0DA0-1438-EEB4-42BD3F502AA3F2D8 http://www.lawtechblog.com/display_blog.cfm?bid=B6A96076-1438-EEB4-420DF4622724AADD Just as diversity and pro bono have become big buzzwords in the legal industry, accessibility has become the "it" word with Web sites... keep your site accessible to make sure you're not restricting any users. Designing for accessibility is a careful balance between technology and the information you want to present.Some Web sites are inaccessible as a result of overusing technology - Web sites designed entirely in Flash or images are not only inaccessible, they're also not searchable; search engines can't find out what their content is. Some inaccessible Web sites use outdated technology, such as Framesets or inaccessible PDFs (PDFs can be made accessible; Adobe provides instructions within their Web site on how to do this). Many sites are missing "smaller" things for accessibility  alternative text for non-text items, proper labeling of forms and tables, or flexible font sizes (particularly the sites built in microscopic fonts, with no option to increase the size), among other things.There are several online tools that will evaluate a site's accessibility - be sure your developers test this on your site. Web sites are such a significant marketing device for law firms that we don't think you should lose a single user over accessibility issues.-- Frances Technology Mon, 23 Jun 2008 18:22:00 GMT http://www.lawtechblog.com/display_blog.cfm?bid=B6A96076-1438-EEB4-420DF4622724AADD http://www.lawtechblog.com/display_blog.cfm?bid=7CCB51E7-1438-EEB4-42BA1A60FEA55AAB And more importantly, are their clients? With the increased use of smartphones such as the BlackBerry and iPhone, consumers have the option of Web browsing from an increasing number of locations - on their coffee break, sitting on the train, riding in a car (preferably while somebody else is driving).Many Web sites simply aren't designed for the smaller screens, slower connections and reduced functionality that came with the older smartphones. Companies were forced to decide between additional development work to support the mobile devices or disregard those potential users. The newer smartphones, such as the iPhones, eliminate much of that dilemma by integrating familiar browsers into the mobile phones: iPhones come with Apple's Safari browser; Windows-based phones include Internet Explorer; every company that develops smartphones has chosen a microbrowser to work with. The familiar browser setting combined with faster connectivity reduces many of the problems previously encountered with designing pages for mobile devices; the main drawback that remains is the smaller screen. With the new technology encouraging mobile users, it's a fairly safe assumption that legal firms and their clients will move forward with the technology. Are you ready? Technology Thu, 12 Jun 2008 12:41:00 GMT http://www.lawtechblog.com/display_blog.cfm?bid=7CCB51E7-1438-EEB4-42BA1A60FEA55AAB