The Campaign for Tobacco Free Kids (TFK) is more than just an organization that raises funds to end smoking. TFK is also an important voice in legislation when it comes to regulating the use of tobacco. To be an effective voice, TFK needed a means to access, manage and present tobacco-related legislative and litigation data from around the world. In partnership with Georgetown University, Tobacco Free Kids gathered this information and then turned to Saforian to create an intuitive interface and database design to deliver this data quickly and efficiently, which enables TFK to track and influence tobacco legislation worldwide while lawyers from around the globe use the information for their own cases.
International Audience
Attorneys worldwide access TFK’s Tobacco Control Law Database to research and understand current litigation and law-making in varied countries. With that in mind, Saforian’s solution had to speak to international audiences. As such, the visual design and layout was crucial. Saforian created a modular design that is easily navigable with clearly labeled sections and menus. Flexible templates accommodate the use of longer texts, tables and graphics. Saforian’s solution addressed the essentials of international accessibility such as, in-country domains, colors, fonts and content delivery.
Creating Pathways
As an alternate means of searching tobacco control law information, Saforian created a pathway-style search feature that enables the user to get to the desired information by browsing data by country, litigation type, issue and general topics and narrowing from there.
Custom Search
Essential to the successful delivery of data is the ability to conduct a variety of searches so that each user’s search style is addressed. TFK’s search form interface was designed to assist the user in selecting the right search terms and filtering the search through dynamic responses as terms are entered. Once results are delivered, the user can use filters to zoom in on the specific information desired.
Saforian’s custom solution used both metadata and actual content to return a comprehensive set of results. To do this, we used Google Search for the actual text of the content and then added custom code to search metadata, including key words and country. We then customized the display of results so the user could then access the results in the following methods:
- Display results 10 at a time
- Display all results on one page
- Download results to a CSV file
Since the data is accessed by lawyers from around the world who naturally have different approaches to searching, Saforian also developed custom icons as an alternate means of guiding users through the vast amount of available data.
Dynamic Grading
The Tobacco Control Laws Database includes enacted legislation from countries around the world as well the results of litigation worldwide. In order to help attorneys assess the progress individual countries are making in controlling tobacco use, Saforian developed a dynamic grading system to evaluate the information in the database. Based on the statistical data, grades are rendered for each country in an easy-to-use, comparative format.
CodeIgniter
Saforian built the solution on a CodeIgniter framework for a number of reasons, including the flexibility that CodeIgniter offers over a Drupal CMS. Using an Open Source solution would have required the development of a custom interface, whereas CodeIgniter provides a fast and secure means to create the interface with little custom code. In addition, CodeIgniter was ideal for this solution because it enabled us to quickly set up administration functions to work in conjunction with TFK’s specific business work flow for publishing data.
Reporting Data Online and Offline
In order to make the most of the vast amounts of data available, Saforian developed a custom display/PDF solution. The tool gathers the required information and presents it dynamically in a reader-friendly layout that can then be printed as a PDF for use offline.
