8 tips To Make Your Website More Senior Friendly

Seniors are the fastest growing demographic online with 57% of US adults aged 65+ using the internet regularly (Pewinternet.org 2014). In 2012 adults aged 50+ spent $7billion online, however, regardless of this huge business potential, research suggests that some websites still do not cater for an older audience. Nielsen Norman Group’s recent study found that “older users aged 65+ were 43% slower at using websites than users aged 21-55” and only 55.3% of the older participants were able to complete online tasks compared to 74.5% among the younger age group. (see Figure 1) (Neilson, 2013).

	Seniors (aged 65+)	Users (aged 21-55)
Success Rate	55.3%	74.5%
Time on Task (min:sec)	7:49	5:28

(Figure 1)

Websites are usually designed by young adults who have grown up using computers and have developed an instinctive familiarity with the digital world. Older adults, on the other hand, have had to adapt to their digital surroundings and had to learn how to use new technology at a much later stage of their life. As a result older web users lack confidence and are “almost twice as likely to give up on a task” on the internet than younger users (Neilson, 2013). Some senior web users also contend with age-related difficulties including reduced: vision, memory and motor control making it difficult for them to navigate around a complicated website.

Here are 8 effective ways to mediate these difficulties and make your website more senior friendly recommended by the National Institute of Aging and the National Library of Medicine (Hodes, R. J., & Lindberg, D. A. 2009)

1. Make sure your information is clear and concise:

• Minimize the amount of text on each page.
• Break information into small sentences
• Use sub-headings.
• Avoid technical jargon.

2. Use a standard page design that remains consistent throughout the website to avoid confusion.

For Example:

3. Design a simple and intuitive navigation system

• Use clear and explicit link labels
• Use pull down menus sparingly
• Provide a site map
• Use different colours and/or underlining to distinguish between visited and unvisited links to aid navigation.

4. Use simple scrolling.

• Avoid automatic scrolling text
• Provide Scrolling icons on the page
• Minimize vertical scrolling and avoid horizontal scrolling.

5. Is your website is ‘clickable’?:

• Make it obvious what is clickable and what is not
• Avoid double click
• Allow clickable space around targets to avoid mistaken navigation
• Use large Buttons: 180 “ 22 pixels that are easy to hit

6. Use large readable font:

• Font: Sans Serif Typeface
• Size: 12 point or 14 point type size for body text.
• Type Weight: Medium or Bold
• Make it easy for people to change the text size directly on the page, for example:

7. Display your text so that it is readable:

• Use double spacing
• Align the text: Left
• Make good use of paragraphs and sub-headings

8. Colour:

• Avoid yellow and blue and green in close proximity because these colours can be difficult to discriminate against each other.
• Ensure that text and graphics can be seen on a black and white monitor.
• Make sure the colour of the text contrasts with the background so that it is easy to see.
• Use dark type against a light background
• Avoid busy backgrounds

Follow this link to see an example of a senior friendly website that is clear, concise and easy to navigate by following these simple tips.

References

Hodes, R. J., & Lindberg, D. A. (2009). Making your website senior friendly. National Institute on Aging and the National Library of Medicine. [online] Available at: http://www.nia.nih.gov/health/publication/making-your-website-senior-friendly [Accessed 14 Feb. 2015].

Pernice, K., Estes, J., & Nielsen, J. (2013). Senior Citizens (Ages 65 and older) on the Web. 2^nd Edition Nielsen Norman Group. [online] Available at: http://www.nngroup.com/reports/senior-citizens-on-the-web/ [Accessed 14 Feb. 2015].

Nlm.nih.gov, (2015). Making Your Web Site Senior Friendly. [online] Available at: http://www.nlm.nih.gov/pubs/staffpubs/od/ocpl/agingchecklist.html [Accessed 14 Feb. 2015].

Pew Research Center’s Internet & American Life Project, (2014). Internet User Demographics. [online] Available at: http://www.pewinternet.org/data-trend/internet-use/latest-stats/ [Accessed 14 Feb. 2015].

Nihseniorhealth.gov, (2015). NIHSeniorHealth Home Page. [online] Available at: http://nihseniorhealth.gov/ [Accessed 14 Feb. 2015].