Despite the potential benefits and an often underestimated desire to use computers
and the Internet, older adults are considerably less likely to use them than any
other age group. Inappropriate software design is a major contributing factor to this
phenomenon. By taking into account their specific needs and accommodating some of the
ways that older adults differ from typical computer users, we developed a web application
specifically for this demographic. This was evaluated by examining the eye movements
of twelve older (70 years and over) users while they looked at webpages using our software
and contrasting this with webpages displayed using Internet Explorer. Contrary to
expectations, we did not find that older users spent less time looking at our simplified
interface rather than I.E.'s default and cluttered interface of menus and toolbars. However,
the design of the interface did radically alter viewing behaviour of the contents of the
webpages and the type of information fixated.
Back to publications page