Web Usability for Senior Citizens : Design Guidelines Based on Usability Studies with People Age 65 and Older

To learn how seniors use the Web, we conducted three series of usability tests with 44 seniors, mainly in the United States, but with a smaller number of session in Japan to ensure the international scope of the findings. We define "seniors" as people over the age of 65. (In the United States alone, 12 million people older than 65 were online as of October 2005 -- a customer base you can't afford to ignore.) Most of our test users were in their 70s, but we also included some people who were 80 years or older, and several people between 65 and 69. We found that current websites are twice as hard to use for seniors as they are for younger users. Probably not that surprising, since Web designers are usually fairly young. However, the Web does not have to be this hard for seniors. Our research found many specific guidelines that can make websites easier to use for seniors if they are followed during the design. Following the usability guidelines for seniors can increase the sales of almost all e-commerce sites (since many seniors have substantial assets). The guidelines can improve the quality of government services for a group that consumes many such services. The guidelines can improve the reputation and usage statistics for any company that would like to serve seniors. And companies serve their retired employees better if the guidelines are followed for extranets or other designs targeted at retirees.