Website reviews

The Society of Messengers-at-Arms and Sheriff Officers (SMASO)

www.ednet.co.uk/~smaso
The Society of Messengers-at-Arms and Sheriff Officers is the organisation which represents the interests of officers of court in Scotland. It sets a Constitution and Code of Professional Ethics for its members. However, neither of these documents are available online, which is unfortunate.

The site is fairly rudimentary and uninspiring, with not a great deal in the way of useful content. The background page details the role and purpose of the sheriff officer and messenger-at-arms and gives an illuminating history of the profession (which evolved from the pre-feudal office of Mair, by all accounts). There is also a section detailing the sort of services SMASO’s members offer and a directory of those members, which can be indexed by location (alphabetically or on a helpful image map).

Ease of Use: 3/5
Site Design: 2/5
Usefulness: 3/5

In point of fact, SMASO’s website does comparatively well to achieve “uninspiring” as far as website design goes. It seems to be an all too common feature of many sheriff officers’ websites that they suffer from some simply appalling web design. Apart from spelling and grammatical errors, this includes simple design points like poor layout and confusing navigation, and in at least one case, irritating animations.

A A Hutton

www.aahutton.co.uk
This is a very attractive website with some nice features. There is a lot of useful information available in one format or another, the navigation is relatively straightforward and the site has features that aim to be useful and/or instructive to either creditor and/or debtor (and their respective legal agents).

The firm’s sheriff officer and debt recovery brochures are both available to download in PDF, as is a short, but busily animated, presentation in Microsoft PowerPoint format (which is great, assuming you have the relevant software). Also, the site has external links to the statutory instruments which detail the relevant fees chargeable for messengers-at-arms and sheriff officers – this allows the client to check they aren’t being overcharged.

Even for those on the receiving end of the firm’s diligence, it isn’t all bad news, as the site allows the submission of proposals for repayment and even online payments by credit or debit card.

Ease of Use: 4/5
Site Design: 4/5
Usefulness: 3/5

Alex M Adamson

www.sheriffofficers.com
Alex M Adamson’s website, aside from having a superbly appropriate web address, compares poorly in comparison to the previous offering. While it is handsome enough in its colour scheme and general layout, it offers little information in the main section of the website beyond an introductory description of the firm, its services and some contact details.

Beyond these basic pages, there is a presentation on aspects of the firm, focusing on their achievements, history and services. Unfortunately, this is accessible only in Macromedia Flash format and contains a lot of information that is not available elsewhere on the website. This is all very well unless you are one of the many people who don’t have Flash installed on your computer. Although the animated presentation is fairly engaging (and I would put it no higher than that), it is not immediately apparent why this information could not simply have been presented as a regular web page, or at the very least allowing this as an alternative.

Ease of Use: 3/5
Site Design: 3/5
Usefulness: 2/5

Stirling Park

www.stirlingpark.co.uk
The pick of the bunch this month is the Stirling Park website. It boasts some nice, crisp, clean design but, more importantly, has the most useful content of any of Scotland’s sheriff officers’ websites. With so much content, site navigation can be a challenge, but it works quite well in this instance.

Of note is the news section which holds not only the firm’s press releases, but also an invaluable section keeping those interested up-to-date with legislative developments in the field of debt collection. Which is all very well for creditors and their solicitors, but what of the debtors?

Stirling Park does not disappoint, offering online payments and repayment proposal submission forms (as with A A Hutton’s site) but adds to those a facility which takes a debtor’s weekly income and expenditure and calculates the amount of expendable income which may be available to offer Stirling Park in payment of the debt  (plus sheriff officer’s fee, of course).

Ease of Use: 4/5
Site Design: 4/5
Usefulness: 4/5