One of the usability issues that never seems to be solved is how sites send their non-marketing information to users. These are the little tiny text links normally found at the bottom of the page, the Terms & Conditions and Privacy statements.
Not only are these hidden away, they are written in the most awful English known to man, legal. My father is a lawyer, and I’ve spent my life with this form of English around me but still can’t decipher what it is trying to get across. A basic usability understanding is lost when it comes to legal documents – the reader must understand what you’re saying.
Legal copy is obviously written the way it is for a reason, to close any possible loopholes another lawyer may find. It’s written not for the person it’s directed at, but for another lawyer to decipher and translate to the reader. Most of us don’t have lawyers reading all our documents for us though, I’m one of the lucky ones (thanks Dad!). This is why I believe there is a better way.
At this point, keep in mind that I am not a lawyer myself, and I certainly can’t claim this solution would stand up in a court. I’m thinking from the user’s point of view, and trying to understand what I’m reading.
One thing I do know, is Canadian and US governments are both working on a more reader friendly guideline for credit card agreements, so everyday people can understand what they are signing. Stands to reason that if they can figure that out, a website’s terms can be broken down a little easier.
A solution I have, is a commented approach. I’ve used a snippet from Amazon’s terms & conditions here, and added a column to the right with plain English comments explaining what this says and why it’s there.
What has been accomplished here is the legal copy is intact, but it’s been summarized as the user reads through. Now a regular user can understand the general idea of the terms and conditions without having a lawyer by their side.
Not only is this useful in the terms, but in the various legal notices of an average site, this plain english approach would be invaluable. Everywhere we need to include a paragraph of legal copy, beside it we can place a comment breaking it down to the essentials, potentially removing or at least helping remove a hurdle towards users opting-in. This could also remove a large number of dissatisfied users who didn’t understand what they were getting into when they signed up for a list, or a service.
When people understand what they’re doing, they are more likely to make an informed decision, and an informed user is a happy user.
Note: Like I said, I’m not a lawyer. This isn’t supposed to be legal advice, it’s just me thinking about a problem. Check with your lawyer, and read the fine print.
