Nielsen-Norman Studies on Children & Seniors

Jakob Nielsen & co. are back with more usability studies & recommendations, 
focusing on children 5-11 & adults 65 & up.

For a brief summary, see the following:

>Web frustrates children: studies
>Current Web design easily frustrates children, yet creates a satisfying 
>experience
>for seniors, a pair of studies has concluded.
>http://enewsletters.f2network.com.au/cgi-bin16/flo?y=eBaW0CB2M0sv0ESl0AA
>
>Some more detail can be found on www.useit.com . Of course, as with the 
>disability access study, you have to purchase the reports to get the full 
>nitty & gritty.

Still, some ideas well worth thinking about, particularly useful for 
knowing where the pitfalls are for Web users of different ages.

Nielsen's most recent Alertbox includes a lot of information from the 
findings of the study on children:

http://www.useit.com/alertbox/20020414.html

Points that jumped out at me: Children tend to get Mom & Dad's old 
computer, so tend to work with older tech; they are frustrated by more 
complex site designs; adding sound & animation tends to keep their attention.

Patrick

Received on Friday, 19 April 2002 19:14:10 UTC