Seniors (ages 65 and older) are one of the fastest growing demographics on the Web. However, our usability studies show that websites are twice as hard to use for seniors as they are for younger users.

This 216-page report offers 106 design guidelines based on our usability research. Discussions and over 75 screenshot illustrations supplement our findings.

Benefits

• Get in the heads of seniors: Understand how and why they use the internet based on observational research
• Checklist of 106 design recommendations that will make your website more suited for seniors and easier for them to use
• Detailed methodology section that shows how you can conduct your own usability studies with seniors

Topics covered

• Seniors and Internet usage
  • Performance, tendencies, and behaviors compared to younger web users
  • History of web usage and computer learning, and how it affects current behaviors
  • Physical traits and how they affect web usage
• Usability design guidelines
  • Homepage
  • Search
  • Navigation
  • Information and text
  • Selling items
  • Forms
  • Web address (URL)
• Usability issues related to the browser/operating system
• Usability issues related to search
• Methodology
  • Tasks
  • Participants
  • Websites studied
  • Tips for conducting usability sessions with senior citizens

Research Method

To evaluate usability, we gave participants tasks, watched them work, and analyzed their behavior. We conducted studies in participants’ homes, offices, senior centers, or our testing labs. In addition to collecting qualitative data, where users could talk to us (thinking aloud), we collected quantitative data (where we captured task success, time, and error scores, as well as users’ subjective satisfaction ratings) about how well the web is currently designed for people ages 65 and older.

The findings in this report are based on 75 web users aged 65 and over. Most studies were conducted in theUnited States, with additional sessions in Australia, Germany, Japan, and the U.K.

2nd Edition

The new edition of the research report is vastly expanded relative to the first edition: the number of design guidelines for accommodating seniors more than doubled (from 46 to 106).