News Item
Minnesota Judicial Branch to launch redesigned public website later this month
Posted: Friday, June 19, 2015
The Minnesota Judicial Branch website, www.mncourts.gov, is an important resource for attorneys, litigants, and the public to find court-related information and public notices, and to access tools that allow users to pay court fines, electronically file court documents, and access case records. In an effort to improve the usability and navigation of the site – with a focus on providing users quick access to the tools, resources, and information they most frequently utilize – the Minnesota Judicial Branch is redesigning www.mncourts.gov. The redesigned website will be available to the public at the end of June.
Highlights of the redesigned site:
Improved navigation
One of the primary goals of the website redesign is to make it as easy as possible for users to quickly find the resources and information they are looking for on the site. To accomplish this, the redesigned website will feature a cleaner homepage and a persistent header and footer on each website page that will provide one-click access to the site’s most frequently-used pages and tools. In addition, the site will offer specialized pages for some of the site’s most frequent visitors: attorneys, jurors, government partners, the media, and educators. These pages provide a “one-stop shop” for these court users to find the resources and information most relevant to them.
Mobile-friendly design
Responding to the growing use of mobile devices by website visitors, the Minnesota Judicial Branch’s redesigned public website will feature a mobile-friendly (or “responsive”) design. This means that the site will automatically adjust to best fit the type and size of device a visitor is using to access the site.
Expanded help for court users
One of the most-used resources on the current Minnesota Judicial Branch website is the online “Self-Help Center,” which provides information and assistance to people representing themselves in court. In 2014, there were more than 1.7 million visits to the online Self-Help Center homepage.
The redesigned website builds upon the existing Self-Help Center resources through an expanded array of “Help Topics.” Help Topics range from information on specific types of court proceedings (such as Adoption or Divorce), to help for court users (such as how to electronically file court documents), to information about the Judicial Branch (such as specific courts and court programs). Individual Help Topics provide an overview of the topic, answers to frequently asked questions, links to related court forms and procedures, applicable rules and laws, helpful links and resources, and related videos.
What current site users need to know:
Existing tools and resources will remain
The redesigned website will continue to provide access to the same tools and resources court users currently find on the Minnesota Judicial Branch website. This includes access to appellate court opinions, the online court fine payment system, the eFile and eServe system, and online access to certain district and appellate court case records.
E-mail notice subscriptions will transfer
The current Minnesota Judicial Branch website gives users the ability to sign up for e-mail notifications related to public notices, court news, appellate court calendars and opinions, and other important information. Users who are currently subscribed to receive these public notices will continue to receive those e-mail notifications after the redesigned site is launched. New users will be able to sign up for subscriptions both before and after launch of the redesigned site.
Many URLs will change
While the website address (URL) www.mncourts.gov will remain the same, links to subpages and documents will, in most cases, change. For three months, the old URLs will redirect to the new ones, but the launch of the redesigned site will require users to update links and bookmarks to the Minnesota Judicial Branch website by the end of September 2015.