Making Websites More Usable by Older Adults (ASA/AIA 2013)

Making Websites
More Usable by
Older Adults
Kate Finn & Jeff Johnson, Wiser Usability,
Inc.

Wiser Usability AIA 2013

Copyright 2012 Bryan Nye,
www.NyeHumor.com

Making Websites More Usable
by Older Adults
•
•
•
•

Background
The Older Adult Web User
Guidelines
Website Usability Evaluation


Background
Accessibility vs. Usability
• Who’s Online?
• What’s Everyone Doing
Online?
• Why Does Usability Matter?
•



Copyright © Darrell Chaddock,
darrellchaddock.com


Accessibility
Extent to which content is
accessible, to widest possible
audience.
Websites = “spaces in the
public domain.” Required by
US law to be accessible
Often contained in underlying
code

Usability
How easy it is to successfully
use a website
Not required by law (but a
good idea!)
Often more obvious, selfevident

Can be Accessible but not Usable, or vice versa.
Not only for older people, or people with disabilities.
Improvements made for 1 population often benefit others.

Percent US Adults Online, by
Age
97
91
77

53

1829
3049
5064
65+


Source: Pew Internet & American Life Project Surveys,
April 2000-April 2012

What’s Everyone Doing Online?


Copyright 2012, Jack
Zylkin,
www.usbtypewriter.com

Common Online Activities, by
Age
Activity

18-33

34-45

46-55

56-64

65-73

74+

Email

90 - 99

Search

80 - 89

Health Info

70 - 79

News

60 - 69

Travel

50 - 59

Gov’t

40 - 49

Key:
% of Online Users
Engaging in Activity

Purchases
Source: Pew Internet & American Life Project Surveys,
April 2000-April 2012


Online-Only Activities










Shopping (Amazon)
Making travel reservations (Travelocity,
Expedia)
Taking online courses (Coursera)
Applying for jobs, schools (UC)
Filing benefit claims (state unemployment)
Managing financial accounts
Reading digital-only publications


Why Does Usability Matter?






Aging: in the cards for everyone

Internet’s universal usefulness
Better usability = More successful users
Older adults: Greatest winners


The Older Adult Web User
Age-Related Changes
• Impact on Web Usage
• Behavioral Characteristics
•


Fine Motor, Vision, and
Hearing, Impairments among
US Adults
% of Adults in US with Fine Motor, Vision, or Hearing, Impairments
14.5

Age
15.2
5.4
9.3
6.8
.6

1.8

7.5

1.5


Source: Summary Health Statistics for U.S. Adults:
National Health Interview Survey, 2010

Age-Related Changes: Vision








Age-related colorblindness
Narrower field of vision
Reduced color & contrast sensitivity
Increased sensitivity to glare
Slower to adapt to changes in light
Slower to focus with changes in distance
Visual tasks more demanding, timeconsuming


No Vision Impairment


Cataracts


Macular Degeneration


Glaucoma


No Blur


Slight Blur


Normal Glare Sensitivity


Increased Glare Sensitivity


No Colorblindness


Colorblindness


Normal Contrast Sensitivity


Low Contrast Sensitivity


Age-Related Changes: Motor
Control





Difficulty grasping/manipulating small objects
Reduced eye-hand coordination
Stiffness
Increase in hand tremor


Age-Related Changes:
Cognition








Reduced short-term memory
Harder to concentrate
Longer learning times
Longer processing time
More distractible
Difficulty retrieving words
More easily overwhelmed


Age-Related Changes:
Cognition


Age-Related Changes: Hearing




Harder to filter out background sounds
Difficult to localize sounds
Harder to detect high-pitched sounds

Everyone:
8 kHz

Under 50:
12 kHz


Under 20:
16 kHz

Impacts on Web Use
Age-Related Change

Impact on Web Use

Lower contrast sensitivity and
color perception
Reduced dexterity and fine
motor control
More distractible

Harder to see links and read
text
Harder to select small targets,
move pointer accurately
Harder to filter out extra stimuli

Harder to learn and remember
new skills and info

Harder to master novel
websites, interactions,
technologies
Compounding of above
impacts

Combinations of above
changes

General Attitudes, Behaviors
of Older Web Users




Less computer experience
“Change blindness”
“Risk averse”








Afraid of “breaking something”
Tendency to read entire page
Fear of embarrassment

Susceptible to information overload
Reluctance to give personal info
Tendency to blame themselves, not interface


Guidelines
Graphic/Visual Design
• Ergonomics
• Navigation, Focus, Guidance
• Content, Writing
• General Accessibility
•


Guidelines: Graphic/Visual Design










Display text in dark colors on light, non-patterned
backgrounds
Avoid tiny fonts; provide a visible way to resize
text
Page layout should continue to work if text is
enlarged
Display text in Mixed Case, NOT IN ALL CAPS
Avoid continuous animations and rolling text
Number steps in multi-step user-action
sequences


Guidelines: Ergonomics





On-screen controls should accept clicks
anywhere on the control, including the label
Make click-targets large, and space them apart
Avoid walking (pull right) menus




Or make them open on click, not on hover

Clearly indicate input focus


Highlight selection; Links highlight on hover


Guidelines: Ergonomics





On-screen controls should accept clicks
anywhere on the control, including the label
Make click-targets large, and space them apart
Avoid walking (pull right) menus




Make them open on click, not on hover

Clearly indicate input focus


Highlight selection; links highlight on hover


Guidelines:
Navigation, Focus, Guidance










Provide clear link to Home from all other pages
Focus attention on important info and calls to
action
Show current “breadcrumb” path on internal
pages
Minimize vertical scrolling
Make links look distinct from non-links
Provide site map
Make site hierarchy shallow and broad
Use consistent layout across pages, esp. for



Guidelines: Content, Writing



Use plain language; avoid technical jargon
Minimize the amount of text








Break up text using headings, bullets, tables
Provide summaries for long texts, with “More…” links

Use active voice & positive statements
Display text in short lines
Provide clear contact information
Provide text equivalents for non-text content


Guidelines: General Accessibility




Images should include alt and title text
Code lists as HTML lists, e.g., <ul> or <ol>
Specify layout and appearance in CSS, not in
HTML








Don’t use HTML appearance tags: <b>, <font>, etc.
Use tables only to display tabular data

Provide Skip Nav links on every page
Navbar links to current page should be inactive
In internal anchors, use id= instead of name=
Declare character set on every HTML page


Guidelines: Resources


www.WiserUsability.com/Resources/







Wiser Usability’s Design Guidelines for Usable
Websites
NIH/NIA: Making Your Website Senior Friendly
W3C: Web Accessibility and Older People
AARP: Audience Centered Heuristics: Older Adults
Kurniawan & Zaphiris: Research-Derived Web
Design Guidelines for Older People


Website Usability
Evaluation

Types of Website Evaluation
• Testing on Older Adults
•






Web Analytics
Usability Tests
Expert Usability Review




Web Analytics




Only after release; “Test in the marketplace”
Lots of data (if site has traffic)
But it’s mainly page-hit counts; limited info on
users’:
 Paths

 Goals

through site

 Satisfaction




Usability Tests





Web Analytics
Usability Tests


Before, during, or after development
 With

paper mock-up, semi-functional prototype, actual
website



Can be inexpensive and quick
 Ask

people to do tasks; record with screen-capture
software



Identifies usability problems
 Produces



hard-to-ignore evidence of problems



Usability Test: Steps





Identify goals of website, goals for test
Identify intended user population
Develop representative test tasks, script
Pilot-test tasks, script







Revise tasks, script

Choose test site(s)
Recruit & schedule participants
Conduct test sessions
Analyze data


Identify problems; suggest improvements


Example: Testing Paper
Prototype


Example: Testing Finished
Website






Web Analytics
Usability Tests



Aka “Heuristic Evaluation” (Nielsen & Molich, 1990)
Get experts to review website & report usability
problems
 Domain

experts or web design experts
 Use web design heuristics or guidelines




UI experts are better than non-UI-experts
Multiple evaluations better than one; 10 is too many


Recommendations for
Conducting
Usability Tests with Older Adults

Test at Participant’s site if possible
 Be sensitive to security/privacy concerns
 Keep test sessions short
 Minimize audio/visual distractions
 Use their computer or provide a similar, familiar
setup
 Avoid speaking in computer/Web jargon
 Be patient and respectful
 Offer to explain things after the session
 Small compensation is greatly appreciated


Thank You!




WiserUsability.com
408.806.8451
kfinn@wiserusability.c
om












User/Usage
Studies
Focus Groups
Usability Testing
Usability Review
Accessibility
Review
Website Design
UI/UX Training

Making Websites More Usable by Older Adults (ASA/AIA 2013)

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