Designing for Elders

It is important to note that there is no 'one size fits all' for older users of computers. In many respects there is much greater variance than there is in the younger population. These variations come from differences in health, prior experience with computers, and lifestyle.
In terms of health there are wide variations in mobility, eyesight, hearing, and cognitive ability. Many older people use computers regularly, and need very few, if any modifications. The majority however, need software designs which are appropriate to their lack of experience using computers, and acknowledge that older users are typically less willing to spend large amounts of time learning how to use complex systems.

The most challenging group to design for are those who have no prior computing experience at all. Many feel anxious about learning to use computers. They see them as complex, and often fear that they will not be able to understand them. For elders to be enthusiastic about using computers they need to see a clear benefit at a reasonable cost (both financial and effort). For older people the benefits often look less enticing, while the costs look greater.
Any system for older people should therefore be as simple as possible. Building systems on top of typical desktop computer interfaces is therefore not appropriate since these systems are already complex, even before application software is added. Instead systems should be designed as information appliances.

Hardware

Fitting computers into elders lifestyles is not always easy. Desktop computers take up large amounts of space, which often makes them impractical. Laptops are more compact, but are often too heavy to be easily used by elders. Tablet PC's however offer a new format which has many benefits. So called 'slate' tablets are smaller and lighter than laptops. They also have no keyboard, but instead use a stylus for input. For elders a stylus has the advantage of familiarity (it's simply a special pen), and it conveniently combines a pointing device and text input, via handwriting, into a single device. For the majority of older people the tablet is a better solution than either a desktop or laptop computer. Those with severe arthritis in their hands may find a stylus difficult or uncomfortable to hold though so for these elders a more conventional keyboard and mouse system might be preferable in these cases.

Design from scratch

It is not appropriate to simply take conventional application software and add accessibility enhancements. While this might make it technically possible for elders to use it does nothing to reduce the complexity. In fact, many accessibility systems actually increase the level of complexity substantially.

Instead systems for elders needs to be designed from first principles. This allows the designer to keep the functionality restricted to that which will most directly server the users needs. By reducing the amount of functionality the complexity can be controlled. Only functions which are of direct (and daily) use to elders should be included. Functions which might be used once a month or less will almost certainly be forgotten about, and never actually used. Most elders are unlikely to ever become power-users, they are likely to remain novice users, and so the interface should only offer functionality at that level.

As an example, an email client for elders needs to be able to receive and send email, to and from a small list of contacts. Features such as multiple mail boxes, filtering, attachments and so on are not important, and should be excluded. It might not even be important to keep emails for more than a very limited time. By reducing the design requirements down to the bare essentials a simple effective design is much easier to reach.

Interaction Idioms

Typical desktop GUIs include a large range of interaction idioms, most of which are inappropriate for elders, especially so for those with no prior computing experience.
A classic example is the double click. For elders with poorer manual dexterity performing a double click can be very difficult, if not impossible. Double clicks also raise the problem of when to click once and when to double click. Designs for elders should never require a double click.
Another example is the cascading menu. To navigate a menu with several levels of submenu requires very precise movements. For those with limited manual dexterity this is often impossible. Menus also hide functionality making it much less likely that it will be found and used. For both these reasons menus should not be used.

With tablet PC hardware the two actions which appear to pose no difficultly are tapping the screen with the stylus (to perform the equivalent of a mouse click) and writing (physically dragging the stylus across the screen). The acceptable idioms are therefore tapping on-screen buttons (essentially clicking), writing and dragging.

For tapping and dragging target size is important. Buttons and draggable objects need to be significantly larger than for younger users. This makes the legends on buttons easier to read, and makes hitting the target easier for those with dexterity difficulties.

Configuration

Most users of any age find configuration difficult. To misquote Oscar Wilde "in configuration interfaces, the foolish ask questions the wise cannot answer". Configuration should be done by the system installer, not by the user. Asking a older user to set parameters on their system which are meaningless to them, but if entered incorrectly will disable the system increases distrust of the system, and decreases reliability. As far as elders are concerned the system should simply work. Allowing them to change configuration options after installation is equally unwise, since it makes it very likely that they will accidentally do so, and not know how to undo the damage.

For elders adding someone to an email address book is almost a configuration option. Although in this is something they would want to able to do, it should be somewhat protected to avoid accidentally removing people from the list. Allowing clear ways to back out from any sort of configuration area is vital.

Navigation

While typical GUIs provide a windowing system to allow for multitasking this increases the complexity dramatically. When designing for elders careful consideration should be given to idioms such as dialog boxes. The concept of modal dialog boxes is not understood well by older novice users, who tend to simply try to ignore them, and then get confused when the rest of the interface is unresponsive.
If users can navigate between different parts of the interface then there is also a risk of getting lost. Having a simple and consistent way to return to the starting point is important to minimise this risk. This help recover from dead ends in the interface, where an older user may have forgotten where to go next, or how to return to a previous state.

Contrast

Colour selections for interfaces need to ensure good contrast. Blue/Black contrast becomes especially difficult for older users. With reduced spatial acuity font sizes also need to be increased. This is very dependent on the individual, but a reasonable size is about 18pt. There is also a difference here between what can be read and what is comfortable to read. Frequently older users can read small text but struggle to do so, and find it uncomfortable. When asked they may still respond that they can read smaller text despite this.

Documentation

The trend towards no documentation (or only online documentation) is entirely inappropriate for elders. Instead clear step by step documentation is required, with plenty of illustrations. If documentation is not provided it is likely it will be requested by elders.

Training

As with documentation, training is essential. For elders who are nervous about using technology being shown how to use it increases confidence. Individual training is preferred over group training, due to the wide range of abilities and difficulties that

Author

Peter Bagnall (Lancaster)