{"id":611,"date":"2022-03-27T23:38:05","date_gmt":"2022-03-27T23:38:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.normanbalberan.com\/blog\/?p=611"},"modified":"2022-04-03T23:19:41","modified_gmt":"2022-04-03T23:19:41","slug":"designing-websites-for-the-elderly-and-mature-audience","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.normanbalberan.com\/blog\/designing-websites-for-the-elderly-and-mature-audience\/","title":{"rendered":"Designing Websites for the Elderly and Mature Audience"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure id=\"attachment_612\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-612\" style=\"width: 890px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-612\" src=\"https:\/\/www.normanbalberan.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/designing-website-for-the-elderly-300x185.jpg\" alt=\"designing website for the elderly\" width=\"900\" height=\"554\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.normanbalberan.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/designing-website-for-the-elderly-300x185.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.normanbalberan.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/designing-website-for-the-elderly-768x472.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.normanbalberan.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/designing-website-for-the-elderly-1024x630.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.normanbalberan.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/designing-website-for-the-elderly.jpg 1200w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 900px) 100vw, 900px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-612\" class=\"wp-caption-text\"><center><a href=\"https:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/aigle_dore\/5238549826\" target=\"_blank\"><span style=\"font-size: small;\">Moyan Brenn \/ Flickr<\/span><\/a> \/ <a href=\"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/2.0\/\" target=\"_blank\"><span style=\"font-size: small;\">CC BY 2.0<\/span><\/a><\/center><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<div id=\"ez-toc-container\" class=\"ez-toc-v2_0_85 counter-hierarchy ez-toc-counter ez-toc-transparent ez-toc-container-direction\">\n<div class=\"ez-toc-title-container\">\n<p class=\"ez-toc-title\" style=\"cursor:inherit\">Table of Contents<\/p>\n<span class=\"ez-toc-title-toggle\"><a href=\"#\" class=\"ez-toc-pull-right ez-toc-btn ez-toc-btn-xs ez-toc-btn-default ez-toc-toggle\" aria-label=\"Toggle Table of Content\"><span class=\"ez-toc-js-icon-con\"><span class=\"\"><span class=\"eztoc-hide\" style=\"display:none;\">Toggle<\/span><span class=\"ez-toc-icon-toggle-span\"><svg style=\"fill: #999;color:#999\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" class=\"list-377408\" width=\"20px\" height=\"20px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" fill=\"none\"><path d=\"M6 6H4v2h2V6zm14 0H8v2h12V6zM4 11h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2zM4 16h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2z\" fill=\"currentColor\"><\/path><\/svg><svg style=\"fill: #999;color:#999\" class=\"arrow-unsorted-368013\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" width=\"10px\" height=\"10px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" version=\"1.2\" baseProfile=\"tiny\"><path d=\"M18.2 9.3l-6.2-6.3-6.2 6.3c-.2.2-.3.4-.3.7s.1.5.3.7c.2.2.4.3.7.3h11c.3 0 .5-.1.7-.3.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7zM5.8 14.7l6.2 6.3 6.2-6.3c.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7c-.2-.2-.4-.3-.7-.3h-11c-.3 0-.5.1-.7.3-.2.2-.3.5-.3.7s.1.5.3.7z\"\/><\/svg><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/a><\/span><\/div>\n<nav><ul class='ez-toc-list ez-toc-list-level-1 ' ><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-5'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-1\" href=\"https:\/\/www.normanbalberan.com\/blog\/designing-websites-for-the-elderly-and-mature-audience\/#Designing_your_site_to_be_Elderly_Friendly\" >Designing your site to be Elderly Friendly<\/a><ul class='ez-toc-list-level-6' ><li class='ez-toc-heading-level-6'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-2\" href=\"https:\/\/www.normanbalberan.com\/blog\/designing-websites-for-the-elderly-and-mature-audience\/#Presentation_of_Information\" >Presentation of Information<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-6'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-3\" href=\"https:\/\/www.normanbalberan.com\/blog\/designing-websites-for-the-elderly-and-mature-audience\/#Design\" >Design<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-6'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-4\" href=\"https:\/\/www.normanbalberan.com\/blog\/designing-websites-for-the-elderly-and-mature-audience\/#Navigation\" >Navigation<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/li><\/ul><\/nav><\/div>\n<h5 style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Designing_your_site_to_be_Elderly_Friendly\"><\/span>Designing your site to be Elderly Friendly<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h5>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Younger people use the Internet, right? Not always. In fact, the <strong>older, or \u201cmature\u201d (over age 60) Internet audience is growing rapidly<\/strong>. If you don\u2019t want to miss out on a rising wave of opportunity for your website, you should seriously consider designing your site to follow specific guidelines that will attract a maturing population.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">The first wave of the estimated 77-million strong Baby Boomer generation has already reached the age of 60 and studies show that in comparison to prior generations, <strong>Boomers are much more likely to use computers and the Internet<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Since this population spans two decades, there is no doubt that <strong>demand for websites tailored to their maturing needs will be on the rise<\/strong>. We can expect that given the significant influence this generation has had on business products in the past, companies will begin producing the equipment they\u2019ll need to surf the Internet (such as making better mouse substitutes for people with arthritis). <strong>Website designers will need to respond in kind if they want to continue to engage this lucrative population.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Fortunately, there is some research available to guide the development of websites that work well for an older population. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nlm.nih.gov\/pubs\/checklist.pdf\" target=\"_blank\">The National Institute on Aging and the National Library of Medicine<\/a> has compiled research-based guidelines for <strong>how to design the best websites for the elderly<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><strong>The guidelines are relatively straightforward, and they could make a significant impact on the success of your site in the future.<\/strong> They include information on how to present information, how to design pages, and what to consider when planning site navigation.<\/p>\n<h6 style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Presentation_of_Information\"><\/span>Presentation of Information<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h6>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">When it comes to how you present information, in many ways you want to write your content the same way you would write it for any audience.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">For example, you should use simple language and an active voice, and you should break information down into smaller chunks. But for the more mature audience, <strong>there are a few more things to keep in mind:<\/strong><\/p>\n<ol style=\"text-align: justify;\">\n<li>Keep your text positive by using positive statements.<\/li>\n<li>Avoid jargon; instead, reduce inferences and present information in a familiar way as possible.<\/li>\n<li>Provide an online glossary of terms. This audience will read and depend on your glossary to get them through the site.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<h6 style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Design\"><\/span>Design<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h6>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">There are a few things to keep in mind from a design standpoint with respect to text, images, colors and backgrounds.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><strong>TEXT<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul style=\"text-align: justify;\">\n<li>Use larger fonts (12-point and higher)<\/li>\n<li>Use a sans serif font that is not condensed (like Arial)<\/li>\n<li>Left justify text as much as possible<\/li>\n<li>Use upper and lowercase text.<\/li>\n<li>Avoid italics. Bold works well, though.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><strong>GRAPHICS, COLORS, AND BACKGROUNDS<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul style=\"text-align: justify;\">\n<li>Don\u2019t put yellow, blue, and green close to each other. For the older eye, these colors tend to merge and hard to distinguish from each other.<\/li>\n<li>Use dark text or images against light backgrounds, or use light text or images against dark backgrounds. Contrast is best.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h6 style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Navigation\"><\/span>Navigation<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h6>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><strong>Elderly Internet users don\u2019t always recognize what might be a \u201cstandard\u201d navigational tool for most other Internet users<\/strong>. They also tend to need to know where they are on a website and where they are going and need a little more instruction on what a navigational tool might mean. <strong>To that end:<\/strong><\/p>\n<ol style=\"text-align: justify;\">\n<li>Use a step-by-step process as much as possible, including letting the user know where he is in the process as he goes through the site.<\/li>\n<li>Try to reduce the need for scrolling to the extent possible. Design horizontally rather than vertically. If scrolling is necessary, use a scroll icon to show what to do.<\/li>\n<li>Use large buttons and incorporate text with icons whenever possible.<\/li>\n<li>Be as consistent as possible. This means using a standard page design on all pages, putting navigation buttons in the same spot on each page, and placing page titles in the same location on each page.<\/li>\n<li>Avoid drop-down menus, which can be confusing and may be overlooked by the user.<\/li>\n<li>Make it easy to figure out how to go backward and forward, such as by placing \u201cNext Page\u201d and \u201cBack\u201d buttons on all pages.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Don\u2019t miss out on the chance to increase your website traffic. <strong>If you use these guidelines while designing your new website or while re-designing your existing website, you could secure your place on the web for decades to come.<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Designing your site to be Elderly Friendly Younger people use the Internet, right? Not always. In fact, the older, or \u201cmature\u201d (over age 60) Internet audience is growing rapidly. If you don\u2019t want to miss out on a rising wave of opportunity for your website, you should seriously consider designing your site to follow specific &#8230; <a title=\"Designing Websites for the Elderly and Mature Audience\" class=\"read-more\" href=\"https:\/\/www.normanbalberan.com\/blog\/designing-websites-for-the-elderly-and-mature-audience\/\" aria-label=\"Read more about Designing Websites for the Elderly and Mature Audience\">Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":612,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8,1],"tags":[71,303,75],"class_list":["post-611","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-guide","category-web-development","tag-web-design","tag-web-design-for-the-elderly","tag-website-design"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.normanbalberan.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/611","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.normanbalberan.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.normanbalberan.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.normanbalberan.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.normanbalberan.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=611"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.normanbalberan.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/611\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.normanbalberan.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/612"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.normanbalberan.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=611"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.normanbalberan.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=611"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.normanbalberan.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=611"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}