Makes for Happy Surfing Seniors
Web 2.0 “style” is distinctively - fresh, appealing and easy to use. It boasts certain asthetics that are - without question - ideal for the ever-growing population of seniors surfing the net. We recently launched a site for My Care Necessities
A Healthcare Journal for Seniors. This site exhibits all the best qualities of web 2.0 - while nicely accommodating the demographic it’s marketing to.Clear Print is an accessible design standard for printed items ranging from magazines to computer screens. The 10 variables explained in Clear Print can affect readers who have difficulty reading print - an increasingly large segment of today’s market. A good resource for those marketing to seniors can be found here. CNIB offers excellent guidelines. Using a more readable, universal typeface for products like these, and incorporating some other simple design modifications, ultimately means increased independence, access, safety and enjoyment of life for people with vision loss.
Here is my short-list of top web 2.0 asthetics that work great for seniors-friendly websites:
Number 1: NICE BIG TEXT
What senior wouldn’t like that? I’m not saying that all the text on your website should be supersize. In fact, in some scenarios, small text is fine. But good designs make the most important text on the page bigger than normal text. Like the other design techniques we’ve seen, it works when used in moderation. If all your text is big, then none of your text is big. Use bigger text to help your visitors see quickly what the page is about, what’s most important, and figure out where they want to look next to find what they want.
Number 2: Plenty of whitespace
We all need space. Space helps us clearly and cleanly identify things. It helps people–especially users who are “new” users of the internet - find what they are looking for. Nothing is harder than finding something in a drawer full of clutter. The more white space the better.
Number 3: Design the content
Good modern web designs put less energy into designing the page background - the canvas and permanent page features - and rather focus on designing the content itself. This reflects the principle of drawing the viewer’s attention to the content. The focus is on making the site’s subject look good, rather than making the web designer look good.
Number 4: Strong colours
Strong colours draw the eye and make things easier to read. We use them to divide the page into clear sections, and to highlight important elements.
