Is anyone else having trouble with CCA website? We regularly have difficulty pulling up opinions and pulling up the opinion page. Plus, this is the only website I've ever encountered that will crash a computer.

I regularly have problems pulling up the CCA site. I have the same problems with some of the other COA sites as well from time to time. I wonder if the sites go down when they are doing updates. With respect to the crashing problem, I finally uninstalled Java on my computer. I don't get (or miss) the buttons on the left but it keeps my computer afloat.

JAVA is certainly the culprit with regard to the crashes. Never seen that with ANY other website.

Frustrated with the length of time that it takes to pull up CCA opinions, I ferreted out a faster method. Pull up the hand-down sheet and find out the cause number of the case(s) you want to read. Instead of clinking on the link that takes FOREVER, open another window to the CCA home page, choose the Case Search option, and type the case number in the first blank (I've found that you don't use the "AP," but you do insert the "PD" where appropriate). Click send. You'll instantly get the Case Information page. Click on the icon for OPINION ISSD and you'll get the event page. On that page, click on the icon for the date of the opinion you want. The next screen gives you an icon to obtain a HTML version of the opinion. All this goes very quickly. I've actually pulled up an opinion this way and read it while still trying to load it in another window from the hand-down link. This is 100 times faster!

Anybody like me think that a link ought to be a link?

This won't solve the crashing problem, which I have not encountered, but can get the cases printed out quickly.

Once you finally get the hand-down page, don't leave!
To get the opinion, right-click it and select "open in a new window."
This lets you look at or print the case without having to wait and hope you can get back to the hand-down list.
I've been much happier since I started that method.

Jeff

Still having the same trouble both at home and at work. Opening in a new window doesn't help. I can't even pull up the search window to get the opinions using Tanya's alternate route.

I have all SP's and Windows security updates installed, and the latest version of JAVA. Do any of y'all who have no trouble also never update?

Okay, I tried Mozilla's Firefox browser, and you can't even get the hand down list with that. Sigh.

I have forwarded this thread to the Office of Court Administration that handles the website. I have it on reliable sources that they are taking your concerns seriously and are working on a solution. Thanks for posting the problems.

There is an extension in firefox called "IE Tabs" that will allow you to view the hand down reports within firefox. You can also tweak the preferences to force those pages to always open in an "IE tab." A little bit of a bother but it beats having to open IE just to see the hand down reports. Doesn't help with java problem, though, which is why I uninstalled java.

Thanks JB. I used the email link on the site to report the trouble, but I'm sure that inquiries from elected officials can only help.

Received some email from the CCA website. Apparently, folks with the most recent JAVA updates were the ones affected by the issue. They've tweaked the handdown page and now it is fast and perfect. I'll buy a drink for the first non-elected person who can tell me what they changed.

I tried using IE tabs in Mozilla, but had the same problem.

My next cause is to get the CCA to post their opinions in pdf like the Supreme Court of Texas and the Supreme Court of the United States. I'm sure with a little elected help it will get done. Thanks, JB.

Why do you prefer PDF format? I like copying and pasting opinions into e-mails and distributing them to interested local officials. Sending a PDF would require them to have an attachment, dowload the software to open it, download the attachment, open it, and then read it.

I also like copying parts of opinions for posting on the site. No can do when it is in PDF format. Also, if the opinion is in HTML format, that is one less click on the website to read it.

Would you be interested in seeing the CCA website and the courts of appeals begin posting copies of the briefs (and maybe even key exhibits) on a website?

I cut and paste from pdf . . . I just hate that html is not WYSIWYG.

Gaps in data plague state, local government Web sites

Some information withheld from Internet but available in agency offices.

By Ralph K.M. Haurwitz
AMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFF
Tuesday, March 14, 2006

Assume, for a moment, that you are trying to decide whether to vote for a certain judge running for re-election to the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals. Your interest inspires you to visit the court's Web site and read some of that judge's opinions.

Good luck. The site, www.cca.courts.state. tx.us, holds a rich store of opinions, but they are organized by date, not judge. Sifting through them is a slow, awkward process.

The site for the state's highest criminal court is especially clunky, and that of the Texas Supreme Court, the highest for civil matters, isn't much better.

Biographies of judges on both Web sites include high schools they attended, names of their children and religions they practice. Finding their opinions is much tougher. And the criminal court doesn't post briefs filed by lawyers.

One frequent user of the criminal court site, Williamson County District Attorney John Bradley, gives it high marks for prompt posting of opinions but ranks it among the worst he's encountered for speed, ease of use and stability.

"It's not very intuitive," Bradley said. "And it crashes browsers all the time."

The Web sites of many state and local government agencies in Texas share certain traits: They're chock-full of information but riddled with gaps. Few say clearly what information is available online and what isn't.

Consider the Travis Central Appraisal District's Web site, www.traviscad.org, which homeowners frequently use to compare appraisals. Nowhere does the site explain that more detailed information � including ownership history, building permits and appraisal protests � is available to the public on six computer terminals at the district's office.

Putting online all the information available on the in-house computers would require hiring a different company to operate the site, at a higher price, said Dan Hodges, the district's information technology manager. The district doesn't run the Web site itself for a similar reason: "If you do a Web site, you've got to have somebody maintaining it. We just don't have the staff time."

The stated goal of Travis County's Web site for voter registration records, www.travis countytax.org/goSearch.do, is to provide voter information in "a concise, easy to read, all inclusive format." But the format is not really "all inclusive."

Some registered voters are not listed because they have asked the county tax office, which oversees voter registration, to keeptheir information off the Internet. Such requests are routinely granted.

The site doesn't note the policy or mention that the information withheld is available on computers at the tax office. The office computers have other information that isn't online, such as which elections a voter participated in.

Voting histories are voluminous and difficult to maintain, and putting too much information online might prove tempting to identity thieves, said Nelda Wells Spears, the county's tax assessor-collector.

"By the same token," she said, "we're not required by law to put anything on the Internet."

Other government Web sites contain a wealth of information that can be tricky to find.

A person interested in environmental violations or other infractions by an oil well operator faces a confusing journey at the site operated by the Texas Railroad Commission, which regulates oil and natural gas production, pipelines and coal mining.

First he or she must scroll down on the home page (www.rrc.state.tx.us) to "rules and regulations," not necessarily the most logical jumping-off point among dozens of links from which to choose.

It takes several more clicks to get to a date or docket number to learn about cases. There is no way to search for enforcement actions or compliance history by the name of the operator of a well, pipeline or mine, information that might prove useful for someone living near an existing or proposed well, pipeline or mine.

"We've never been asked to organize it that way," said Ramona Nye, a spokeswoman for the Railroad Commission.

Some government Web sites seem to be designed more for the industry professional or political junkie than the layman, said Terri Gray, the owner of Austin Web Design, which designs sites for a variety of clients. "It can be a little daunting, especially when you first try to do searches and you're not sure what the results are returning," she said.

Even the Web site of the agency responsible for enforcing the state's open government laws, the attorney general's office (www.oag.state.tx.us), isn't the most user-friendly. The instructions for searching open records rulings are confusing, and plugging in the same search terms can produce far different results, depending on whether the site's Google or Netware search engine is used.

The search functions are far better than they were several years ago, and there haven't been complaints from the public, said Tom Kelley, press secretary for Attorney General Greg Abbott.

It's difficult for any agency's Web site to meet all users' needs.

"I believe the expectations of the user sometimes dictate either satisfaction or dissatisfaction with a particular site," said Larry Olson, executive director of the Texas Department of Information Resources and the state's chief technology officer. His agency operates the state's official portal to the Web, www.texasonline.com.
Still, there's no doubt that some sites are easier to use than others. ers.

Bradley would like to see the court sites post briefs and other records.

"Let's say it was a DWI case and there was a police videotape the court relied on to make its decision," he said. "Why shouldn't we be able to see that, too? I think it would be a wonderful educational tool for the public."

Carl Reynolds, administrative director of the Office of Court Administration, the state agency that runs the sites, said he was aware of shortcomings and pledged to make the sites for the Supreme Court, the Court of Criminal Appeals and other appellate courts more useful. He said his goal is supported by the chief justice of the Supreme Court, Wallace Jefferson.

"We have the wherewithal in-house to rebuild these Web sites," said Reynolds, who joined the agency in April. "It's a matter of putting the project in the context of all the other projects we have going on."