Everything I learned about interaction design I learned in the senior center computer lab
Speaker: Cordelia Dillon
Twitter: Cordelia
- A lot of technology is created by young abled-bodied people.
- As we age our senses are not the same.
Feasibility
- Are interfaces and interactions physically accessible?
Meaning
- Are iconography, terminology and concepts familiarly or explained
Navigation
- Are navigation patters consistent and intuitive
Issues Examples
1. Mobility
- Double Click
- Brings issues of accuracy
- Users with arthritis or mobility issues.
Design Principles Flexibility
- User has options, can interact in the way that works best for them
- No time dependence: user can work at their own pace, free of any time-based pressure
- Solution: large tap areas
- Generous margins between actions
- Consider action order and general layout (trash icon)
- Not knowing where the field ends (form fields)
- Should I tab on label, on field, where does the field ends? (for field without surrounding box)
Design Principle: Wiggle room
- User doesn’t have to be too precise
Design Principle: Tolerance for error
- User can easily recover from mistakes
“Easy to do the right thing, hard to do the wrong thing”
3. Finding Icons
- Menu under a triangle down arrow icon
- Who might this affect?
- Users with low vision
- Users with zoom
- Screens with varying brightness, color balance, or resolution.
Solutions
- Stronger color contrast
- Tooltips
Design principle
Use a crappy/old projector for colour contrast testing.
4. Iconography
- Discerning meaning without text clues.
- (Icons without text)
Who might this affect?
- Touch screen users
- New or infrequent users of apps
- Users unfamiliar with certain web conventions
Solutions:
- Include tooltips or other visible text to clarify purpose
- Avoid using same icon for multiple meaning across app (globe icon on Facebook)
- Designer how to test an icon: take it out of context
- Ask any stranger: What do you reckon this icon mean?
Navigation Pattern
“Half of the seniors keep a list of steps and instruction about how to use websites they need or often visit.”
Nielson Norman Group (2013)
Usability for senior citizens