Web Redesigning: Making Websites

More Senior Friendly

According to the Administration on Aging (AoA), more than half a billion people were 60

years or older in 2000. By 2050, AoA expects this number to be close to 2 billion.

When put into business perspective, businesses would be remiss to allow this

considerable market to pass them by. Seniors are devoted users. Apart from sending

and receiving email, they search the web for health, financial, and religious information.

They also use the Internet to shop, play games, and book travel. For this reason,

businesses should redesign their websites to be more senior-friendly.

Designing Senior Friendly Websites

With the considerable business web-savvy

seniors provide, companies should redesign

their websites to encourage more, older

adults to visit. Redesigning a website for a

new market can be challenging, however.

With that said, businesses should consider

these guidelines:

Make Web Info Easier to Find

Computer conventions, such as scrolling, clicking

buttons and links, and using menus may be

unfamiliar to seniors. Their advanced age may

also bring changes to their memories, hindering

their ability to recall the location of items in a

given space, and find them. As such, companies

should make web information easier to find for

seniors, through consistent and predictable

navigation elements.

Prioritize Key Info

Seniors possess a range of physical and

cognitive abilities. Motor skills and

coordination may degrade earlier for older

adults with arthritis or other age -related

issues, however. As such, scrolling or

controlling the mouse in a combination of

movements may become difficult or

confusing for them.

To make their websites more senior-

friendly, businesses should put the

essential information in areas that older

adults can find it more easily. They should also limit the length of the web pages to

minimize or eliminate scrolling.

Keep Content Short

As seniors continue to age, their hearing may

worsen, and their short term memory may

become less reliable. For this reason,

businesses should create paragraphs that

express one main idea, and sentences that

are simple and straightforward.

Other strategies are available for designing

more senior friendly websites. Businesses

interested in these strategies should contact

professional web designers and other similar

specialists.

Sources:

http://www.future-ink.com/

http://www.nlm.nih.gov/pubs/checklist.pdf

http://www.changingthewayweage.com/Media-and-Marketers-

support/Articles/creatingage-friendlywebsites.pdf