Before you understand what litigation support is, it’s essential to understand what litigation means. It’s a fancy word for the process of taking legal action. That legal action could be anything, from legal action against someone who caused a collision on the roads to a business coming under fire for false advertisement.
For this article, we’ll look at litigation support for businesses that find themselves in hot water because they don’t comply with design regulations when creating a website. Yes, there are rules and regulations to follow – it’s not as simple as designing a free website on WordPress. Read on to find out more.
Designing A Website
There are instances where designing a website doesn’t have to be so complex. For example, a personal blogger that intends for their website to be nothing more than an online journal won’t necessarily have to worry about their website design leading to a litigation process. A brand, however, needs to consider every detail of its website design process.
Free website templates like those on WIX typically provide enough resources so that not only will a website comply with the rules and regulations, it’ll be a fully functional business website.
Rules And Regulations To Follow
There are tons of articles online relating to designing a website – but many of them fail to include the rules and regulations businesses must follow if they want to protect their business from litigation. Here’s a list of the legal requirements a business website must adhere to, and if they don’t, means a brand might need litigation support:
- Cookie consent notices
- Privacy policy and data storage disclosures
- Plagiarism and copyright laws
- Terms and conditions
- GDPR
One that’s not as well known, particularly by smaller businesses, is the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) generated law of ensuring a website is accessibility friendly for people with disabilities. Unsure of how to do that? Accessibe uses artificial intelligence that’s helped brands like Oreo and Six Flags make their website accessibility friendly. Additionally, accessiBe can combat lawsuit potential by using its overlay products to make websites more accessible. The ADA regulation only applies to brands with at least 15 employees and more than 20 weeks of trading under their belt.
What To Avoid
There’s a gold standard list of things to avoid when designing a website – that’s why so many brands choose to hire a professional website designer who has the scope to create a 5* website while complying with all laws and regulations. Still, free website templates and the correct knowledge of website design can suffice for small businesses without the budget to hire a developer.
The general rule of thumb is to create a completely unique website design. It’s OK to draw inspiration from successful websites, such as layouts and the checkout experience – but the overall website design shouldn’t compare to another. Avoid copying logos, slogans, images and videos, and information relating to another business.
It’s also essential to avoid creating a website that’s tricky for anyone to use. Testing can prevent a website from launching with bugs, a less than a user-friendly interface, and slow loading speeds. Lately, a new issue to avoid is failed responsiveness. Customers want to shop anywhere, from any device, putting responsiveness at the top of the list of priorities when designing a website.
Designing a website is relatively simple, thanks to the numerous free online tools that make it possible for anyone to create a website without needing skills. Litigation support comes into play when any aspect of website design goes against the laws and regulations – something which is more common than ever, attributed to the digital era of business we’re now in.
