Don't forget the old folk
Posted 10 June 2008 at 9:45AM by Ian Betteridge in Managing your website
I have to confess that I'm getting a little bit long in the tooth. At home, I find it hard to remember which button I have to bash when playing Grand Theft Auto 4 to punch people, and I find the TV guide on my telly to be utterly confusing.
But the way I see it, it's not all my fault: it's partly that designers of products tend to forget that not everyone is sharp-eyed with a perfect memory. And as we get older, products which looked perfectly usable to 20-somethings may start to look utterly baffling, and totally unusable.
A case in point is my mother. Now deep into her 70's, she still buys a printed TV guide every week, despite the fact that there's a constantly-updated TV guide in her new flat-screen television. There are two reasons for this. First, the button on her remote that brings up the guide is marked with a small book-like icon that's printed in grey on a black remote - virtually impossible to see if your eyesight isn't perfect.
What's more, when she can press the right button, the user interface for the guide is pitched at people with perfect eyes, and is barely readable for anyone without 20/20 vision from a distance of three meters. She would have to sit with her nose up against the screen to read it.
For businesses, there's a big opportunity here. With an aging population, companies that can make their products and services accessible to older people will have a competitive advantage over those that don't - and this starts with your web site.
So why not audit your web site for accessibility? Are you using something like grey on black text, which can be hard to read if your eye sight is poor? If you're in doubt, the RNIB has produced a great site designed to help you ensure your online presence is accessible, which is well worth a read.
The charity also has a product development consultancy that can help you create products that work for the blind and visually-impaired as well as they do for others. So don't lock out some of your customers, just because their eyes aren't what they were.
Tags: accessibility, bt, bt broadbandoffice, rrnib
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Comments
2. At June 11, 2008 10:04 PM, James Lyon wrote:
Great article but dont forget that many younger people have disabilities and some with sight problems as well, plus remember colour blindness.
A few tips - dont mix too many colours and shades together - They may look great to you !!
If you are designing a LOGO or page design, make sure that it is easily recognisable when it is screen size - More important reduce it down and down and down to see if it is still recognisable. Many people still have small size screens and dont forget the hand held computers and phones too.
One thing that gets me going is when magazines and websitess print a couloured background and then have a paler colour lettering. I.e deep pink backgrounds with pale pink lettering, pale blue background with small white lettering. May look pretty to you - but can others read it? Tip - Print it out and photocopy it in Mono B/W and see if you can still read it. Others might not be able to.
Design your website pages and then ask a stranger to have a go or even ask your children. They will find deep holes that you never thought existed.
Dont forget to check out your hyperlinks. Tip - Dont have too many - The more hyperlinks that you have, the more difficult it is to make changes at a later date.
3. At June 19, 2008 2:56 PM, Mike Goldwater wrote:
Yes, you are quite right. So, BT, why do persist in publishing this in 8pt sans serif? Times Roman is much easier to read than any sans serif font. To get round this I use the ctrl+ key to enlarge print in a web browser. But this won't work on HTML e-mails in Outlook.
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1. At June 10, 2008 10:40 AM, newbiesunion wrote: