Mr. Nielsen also noticed that the elderly have a tendency to fully read information that younger users might skip over. Seniors will often read longer information like purchasing terms and license agreements. One participant in his study, he points out, wouldn’t approve a disclaimer for an investing site. Therefore, he couldn’t progress to the site’s useful tools. Pop-ups and error messages especially tend to make older people nervous thus “often will just completely destroy their ability to use the site.”
On top of that, many seniors have poor eyesight, memory problems, hand tremors or other age-related disorders. For example, blindness or poor vision affects 3.3 million Americans age 40 and above, according to the National Institutes of Health. In contrast, many web designers are much younger. Without the firsthand experience of such problems, they don’t take them into account when programming.
Design Guidelines
Mr. Nielsen has crafted a list of 46 guidelines for web designers, based on his usability studies. The general principle “is to be more forgiving,” he says.
Some of the guidelines suggest ways designers can take into account seniors’ unfamiliarity with the web. For example, Mr. Nielsen suggests that websites more clearly label where to search, and have forms that accommodate alternate ways of entering information. They should also avoid Internet jargon and present error information in a clear, non-threatening way, he says.
Some of his other guidelines point out how designers can accommodate seniors’ physical problems. For example, he suggests sites use at least 12-point text that can be enlarged by the user. (Nine-point and 10-point type are the most common sizes online, he says.) He also suggests using sharply contrasting colors and making links large so they are easily clickable. Try avoiding features that can be hard to use with shaky hands, such as drop-down menus.
To help older people who may have problems remembering where they are on a site, he recommends changing the color of visited links and providing a link to the site’s homepage on all its pages.
Elderly-friendly Web Design
Fidelity’s suggestions for elderly-friendly web design include reducing the amount of text on each page. Try using concise instructions, links that clearly explain what happens when you click, and larger, adjustable text size. Fidelity also found that incorporating such changes helps both younger and older users. Others, including Mr. Nielsen, say their guidelines, too, are universally helpful.
Design advice also is available from the National Institute on Aging and the National Library of Medicine, which together have established a checklist of 25 design guidelines for websites targeting users 60 and older. In October of last year, these two divisions of the Bethesda, Md.-based National Institutes of Health launched a site, https://www.nia.nih.gov/health, that could serve as a model for web designers. For example, the site, which covers health topics specific to older people, uses large print. It has a button that enables the user to further enlarge the text. It provides step-by-step navigation instructions and presents information in short, easily readable segments.
Those designing websites for older adults also can share information on an AARP site called “Older Wiser Wired”. It also provides research and tips from the association and others on the subject.
As awareness of the issue grows, a number of sites have started to incorporate such recommendations into their design. This is especially true for those that provide services or products for the elderly.
Senior-Specific Sites
Among senior-specific sites, the AARP itself is in the middle of a site redesign. It’s set to be completed next year, based partly on usability studies it conducted last year. The association plans to make its homepage less cluttered. It’s reducing the number of subject offerings in the center of the page and adding more white space. It found its current design overwhelms older users, the AARP’s Ms. Lee says. These changes will build on other elderly-friendly features the site already has incorporated. This includes adjustable text size and a mostly black font on a white background.
Similarly, San Francisco nonprofit SeniorNet, which teaches older adults about computers, has tried to make its site (www.SeniorNet.org) more usable for visitors, and the Medicare.gov site run by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services incorporates several of the common guidelines for senior usability.
Drug Companies Focus on Seniors
Beyond such strictly elderly-focused sites, some drug companies are making their online offerings more accessible to older users. They’re recognizing they have an extensive senior customer base. Looking up health or medical information is tied with product research as the second-most-popular online activity of seniors, after e-mailing.
New York-based Pfizer Inc., which says the greatest number of users of its products are elderly. It recently developed guidelines to make its websites more usable for everyone, including older people. It began sharing them with its product teams and design agencies last month. Several Pfizer sites specifically geared toward older people already incorporate some of the senior-friendly features. The site for Xalatan, a glaucoma treatment, is a good example.
Financial Senior-focused Design
A number of financial sites are also at the forefront of senior-focused design. Fidelity Investments is one of the financial firms leading the efforts. “We wanted to try to position ourselves to be the company these people turn to. We thought one of the things we needed to do was to make sure we were doing whatever we can in the design of our websites to make it easy for older folks,” Mr. Tullis says. San Francisco-based Charles Schwab Corp. also has incorporated usability features for seniors on its site, Schwab.com.
