Web contracts, or documents on the web are increasingly popular. However, paper documents are still common. Even when digitized, we scan in physical documents or export to PDF files, locked down to the standard 8.5×11 sheet. This might not be an issue for a paperback novel, but contracts are rarely ever considered easy reads. Modern media gives us lots of opportunities to make contracts easier to read and digest.
Legally binding?
Let’s ask ourselves the obvious first question, are contracts on the web legally binding? The short answer is yes. If we go back to Contracts 101, all we need is offer, acceptance, and consideration. None of this dictates the media of the contract. And so we have oral contracts, video wills and even binding documents comprised of a dozen text messages. The media doesn’t change the fundamentals of contract law, and there is very little substantive difference between paper and digital.
Why the web?
The quickest benefit of web contracts is responsive design. This means that the design (such as font size, layout, color, etc.) can adapt to your device. For example, if you’re reading this blog on your phone, the text has been resized to fit in the palm of your hand. Though the content is exactly the same, the layout is different from a large computer monitor. Layout might even be a personal choice, up to the user. My personal pet peeve is encountering multi-column contracts, and a responsive design could allow users to choose what suits them best.
Those are some quick wins, and I see them a lot in online privacy policies and general terms documents. However, few have taken the next step to add interactivity to their web documents.
Examples
Let’s take a look Stripe’s Services Agreement. Anyone will recognize the dense legalese of the contract, but they provided a handy table of contents so you can navigate the page easily. CD Projekt Red split their End User License Agreement into two columns so that the second column summarizes and explains the document. Juralio uses color and icons to draw your attention to key points in their Product Terms. Sometimes, even a minor adjustment can be really handy.
If we look at more comprehensive examples, Google’s Privacy Policy embeds explanatory videos and graphics right into the document. It links directly to relevant tools available to the end user and leaves plenty of whitespace in between.
Personally, I don’t think legal teams have even scratched the surface. I religiously use a web framework called Bootstrap, which includes a variety of pre-made web components. Just browsing items like a collapse card, tooltip, or scrollspy should immediately spark ideas. What if we could hide irrelevant sections of a text in a collapse? Or if defined terms always included hover over tooltip with their definitions?
At reference.legal, we juggled how innovative we wanted to be, without introducing too many radical changes. The obvious innovations in version 1 are to include dynamically generated table of contents, to replace ALL CAPS DISCLAIMERS with text conspicuously highlighted in yellow, and to ensure internal references in the document can be clicked. We are currently exploring how to add definitions as hover over tooltips. None of these are revolutionary by any means, but they make a measurable difference in accessibility.
How do you adapt for the web?
If you’re thinking of taking the plunge, I applaud you! You can take small steps to ensure your success, but the opportunities are as wide as your imagination can take you. I suggest tackling your pet peeves. Do you hate multi-column text? Or maybe ALL CAPS is difficult to read. The beauty is that practically all of us can agree that contracts are not presented in some optimal, perfect format, and it is ripe for innovation.
If you’re diving in head first, I suggest starting with the most generic document you have on hand (like a non-disclosure agreement), then ensure even the last bits can be generalized. For example, instead of an empty field for a client to enter their business entity name, slap on a definition and consistently refer to the entity by a defined term. Include a chart that lists the jurisdictions you operate in, and governing law can be dependent on which entity is contracted with. These are the decisions that can be automated with clever features, but for now, thinking through the process is more important than anything.
Rethinking how we present data is not an easy task. However, other industries have done so well that all of the suggestions I’ve made form the basis of free, open-source tools that virtually any web developer is familiar with. If you run a corporate website and have the ability to post pages online, none of the suggestions will take more than a few hours of junior development time.