Re: Call for Review and Participation: WAI-AGE Literature Review and Task Force

Shawn Henry wrote:
>    http://www.w3.org/TR/2008/WD-wai-age-literature-20080514/

On a first quick skim, particularly in section 2.4, and with reference 
to the old-old category, I think some points that have been missed are:

- many such people believe they cannot learn new technology;

- they are afraid of breaking things (including simply getting into a 
state they don't recognize) by making mistakes, whereas a young person 
would try things out to see how they worked  (i.e. the response to every 
possible user interface interaction, including accidental clicks in the 
wrong place, should preferably be predictable and certainly leave no 
doubt as to the new state and how to get back);

- as it does point out, many have missed out on ICT in their working 
lives, so they have to learn to use computers from cold, whereas modern 
user interface designs assume a large amount of back experience that 
allows one to decipher new interface paradigms.

On the last point, what one should be striving for is that it is 
possible for the person to write down, in handwriting, on a single side 
of paper, the rules for recognizing and using all the user interface 
elements on every web page they would want to use.

This isn't entirely possible, because it takes more than one side of 
paper to do this for the user interface of a typical GUI, for someone 
whose last ICT experience was a mechanical typewriter and railing to 
program a VCR.

A lot of these issues are covered in the literature review, but I think 
they have been glossed over too much in the initial summary, compared 
with the amount that is given over to physical disablities and 
pathological degradation of the brain.

-- 
David Woolley
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Received on Saturday, 17 May 2008 10:05:13 UTC