Aging and UX Design
By: Shari Rosenberg
Tags: UX, Flatiron School, UX Design, Aging

While we all think we are invincible, as we inevitably get older, we don’t always have the same abilities as we did when we were younger. As web developers, we need to consider how our users interact with our sites and what we can do to attract the a wide range of people to engage with our applications.

Age is a key factor in web application development in terms of accessibility, usability, and user interface design.

The differences in how various ages use the web have never been more significant than they are today. Because the web has become so integral to many people’s lives, different generations of users have developed different abilities on the web.

Whether you are building a website for children, adults or the whole family, age affects how it will be used and perceived. Young children are still developing in mind and body, and seniors encounter issues of their own. Teenagers and adults have particular objectives when browsing the web and interpret information differently.

There are around 48 million individuals age 65 years and older living in the United States. Of these, more than half own and use a desktop or laptop, while a third prefer using tablets. Eight out of ten regularly use a smartphone.

Anecdotally, it’s been said that seniors struggle to adapt to new technologies. However, six out of every ten use the Internet. Seventy percent of all senior citizens access the Internet on a daily basis, using social media to interact with friends, relatives and family members. Seniors older than 65 have actually adapted to new technologies much more strongly than anticipated.

While the majority of senior citizens are enthusiastic about new technologies, this does not mean they enjoy a smooth experience at all times. There are significant obstacles that seniors face as far as continuous usage of technology is concerned.

The largest technology issue for seniors is ease of use, especially when learning to navigate a new device. More than half of older Americans indicated that they would require assistance in accessing social media sites on their smartphone, tablet or computer.(trust me, my mother calls all the time for me for tech support!)

As America ages, designers will also have to consider the increasing number of senior citizens in the country. By 2050, there will be more than 92 million individuals above the age of 65 years in the United States. Therefore, the issues that impact the technological experience of senior citizens will have to be identified, analyzed, and addressed as early as possible in the product development process.

Best practices for designing for elderly users include:

Making websites highly visible and highly memorable

and highly Text should be large and easy to read

and Links should be easy to click

There should be little animation or movement that might be distracting

or movement that might be distracting Website navigation should be straightforward

With old age, there is often vision and related eyesight complications. So consideration for devices to be senior-friendly, they should offer features like adjustable font sizes, minimum font size of at least 16 pixels and adjustable contrast ratios. These advantages will help seniors customize the visual experience per their personal needs.

Additionally, many seniors deal with some degradation of fine motor skills. Design of hardware should offer large buttons that don’t require clicks or taps on precise areas of the screen. Designers of software should consider using an entire selection button as a hyperlink, instead of attaching the link to the text alone.

Further, users should be able to navigate the device with as few clicks or gestures as possible. To facilitate easier navigation and use, aged individuals should have the option of configuring the device to accept a single click as a double-click where necessary.

resources: https://www.webfx.com/blog/web-design/designing-for-different-age-groups/, https://www.uxmatters.com/mt/archives/2017/04/designing-user-interfaces-for-an-aging-population.php, https://gerontology.usc.edu/resources/infographics/designing-technology-for-the-aging-population/ https://www.hyperlinkinfosystem.com/blog/taking-older-people-into-consideration-while-designing-ui