Q & S: Seniors on the Web

CHI-Web Colleagues,

My colleague Kate Finn and I, who a year ago co-founded Wiser Usability, =
Inc (http://WiserUsability.com) to focus on Web accessibility and =
usability for seniors, would like the CHI-Web community's input on three =
questions.  I will collect the replies and post a summary, so please =
reply off-list.

1. Do you know of websites that specifically target older adults?  We =
mean besides the obvious ones:  AARP.org, SeniorNet.org, etc.  We've =
found that a segment of the travel industry targets seniors (e.g., =
RoadScholar.org, GrandCircleTravel.com, GrandEuropeanTours.com), but =
would like to know if there are other industry segments that do the =
same.

2. Web use by seniors raises issues falling squarely in the domain of =
"Web usability" and issues falling squarely in the domain of "Web =
accessibility", but also include many issues that are in a gray area =
between the two (no pun intended).  We are familiar with the Web =
usability and Web accessibility literatures, but would like to know what =
published literature exists in that gray area, or at least what ideas =
have been put forth about it.  We are familiar with the W3C's WAI-AGE =
project (http://www.w3.org/WAI/older-users).

3. In a recent study we conducted of seniors (age 60+) using websites, =
we often saw a problem that we had not seen so frequently in Website =
usability tests with younger participants:  a lack of understanding of =
the scope of settings or of displayed information.  For example, after =
searching a travel website for trips to Eastern Europe, an older user =
might assume all subsequent info and links on the screen to be about =
trips to Eastern Europe, even permanent navigation links that are on =
every page of the site.  After the user sets a price facet-menu on the =
Advanced Search page to their desired price, they might, instead of =
clicking on the Advance Search page's GO button, click on the site's =
main-navbar entry for Eastern Europe and expect it to show trips in =
their indicated price-range.   Or after searching for flights and =
finding some, the user displays and reads an explanation of prices, but =
afterwards instead of closing the pricing info, the user clicks Find =
Flight and ends up starting over, with all prior search results lost.  =
Amount of Web experience is no doubt a factor in these problems, but =
they also seem related to focus of attention.  We wonder if others have =
seen similar issues or published writings about them, especially =
pertaining to older Web users.

BTW: I am 60, so my interest in this topic is not purely academic.

Thanks,
Jeff Johnson, Ph.D.
Wiser Usability, Inc.
UI Wizards, Inc.

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