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posted by martyb on Saturday November 23 2019, @04:15AM   Printer-friendly
from the You-May-Be-Younger,-But-I-Have-Better-Insurance dept.

(Disclaimer: I wrote the article Creating Online Environments That Work Well For Older Users but suspect that many Soylentils will find it useful.)

A significant part of the Internet-using population is aged 50 or older — including the people who invented it. Web designers need to understand what older users need and why it's not enough to just say, "I can read it, so what's the problem?"

If you're my age you have no doubt run into more than a few web sites that are just plain useless, either because you can't read the text, or because they were designed using assumptions that those of us over forty years of age don't find useful. Whether it's our need for high contrast text, or our preference for actual words and paragraphs over video, the needs of older users often get ignored.

We are the generation that invented and grew up with personal computers. It's absurd to suggest that we are less capable of using technology. In other words, you can't complain about old people not understanding tech, and then also complain that they've taken over Facebook and Twitter. Besides, we also usually have lots more disposable income, so catering to our needs is good for business.


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  • (Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Saturday November 23 2019, @06:32AM (9 children)

    by Runaway1956 (2926) Subscriber Badge on Saturday November 23 2019, @06:32AM (#923725) Journal

    While I agree with you at least 90%, those Youtube videos do have their place. I've watched a few videos on welding, and my welding has improved to a better grade of shit. (I'm never going to be a good welder, but sometimes, I have to stick something together.) Some auto repairs are a bit confusing, and the video can show you clearly where the component is located, and how it is situated.

    The kid was working on his starter, and asked me something about the wires in the windings. I wasn't real sure, so he pulled up a video on starter repairs. There was the answer - stick your multimeter probes here and there, get the reading, then stick the probes there and there, get the reading. I could have figured this out on my own, but the video saved several seconds, or maybe a couple minutes, probing around.

    Alas, Youtube doesn't have much on Predator Drone Repair and Maintenance.

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  • (Score: 4, Interesting) by krishnoid on Saturday November 23 2019, @07:17AM (6 children)

    by krishnoid (1156) on Saturday November 23 2019, @07:17AM (#923734)

    Speaking of Youtube, this video [youtube.com] and others [youtube.com] describe how VR can be helpful for older olds.

    For you younger olds, the American Association of Retired Persons is doing a Black Friday [aarp.org] special, 5 year membership for $50 instead of $60. If nothing else, I bet people who read the forums -- or maybe even articles -- could benefit from our, er, charitable and nuanced perspectives.

    • (Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Saturday November 23 2019, @07:50AM (2 children)

      by Runaway1956 (2926) Subscriber Badge on Saturday November 23 2019, @07:50AM (#923742) Journal

      Interesting. For multiple reasons, it's interesting. To quote the chef, near the end of the video, "I can go wherever I want". That's cool, but, just before that, the neurologist (Indian name? No, I won't even attempt to spell her name) explained that people need to interact with those places. Need to smell, need to feel . . .

      In the side bar, Youtube is suggesting I see the video "Visiting the coldest town in the world". If you've never experienced temperatures of fifty degrees below zero, how do you relate to a video? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l1noUh2NrLI [youtube.com] I could list dozens of examples, including blistering heat, but there is no evidence of sweat on your body because it evaporates so quickly. The smell or the sound of the coast, in various weather conditions. The best that a video can offer is purely visual, and academic, IMO.

      I guess that gets added to the list of "things worth thinking about".

      • (Score: 2) by krishnoid on Sunday November 24 2019, @04:32AM (1 child)

        by krishnoid (1156) on Sunday November 24 2019, @04:32AM (#924094)

        I think it was one of Stanislaw Lem's stories where he made the point, "A robot can tell you the temperature to any number of decimal places. But only a human can tell you that it's cold."

        • (Score: 1) by Samantha Wright on Sunday November 24 2019, @10:02PM

          by Samantha Wright (4062) on Sunday November 24 2019, @10:02PM (#924274)

          I think you'll find that robots have found an immense amount of success by aggregating humans' opinions of whether or not it's cold, and using that data to report a comparable judgement. You may want to let go of that particular chestnut.

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday November 23 2019, @03:00PM (2 children)

      by Anonymous Coward on Saturday November 23 2019, @03:00PM (#923837)

      For you younger olds, the American Association of Retired Persons is doing a Black Friday [aarp.org] special, 5 year membership for $50 instead of $60. If nothing else, I bet people who read the forums -- or maybe even articles -- could benefit from our, er, charitable and nuanced perspectives.

      AARP? No thanks. I'd rather have my tonsils extracted through my ears than give those insurance company shills a nickel.

      • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday November 23 2019, @03:41PM (1 child)

        by Anonymous Coward on Saturday November 23 2019, @03:41PM (#923846)

        How fortunate! I am a part time surgeon, and this week, I am running a special on customized tonsil extractions! For the low-low price of $99.95, you can have your tonsils extracted through your ear canal! And, for only $89.99 more, we can capture the procedure on video, for you to share with friends and family! Act now, call me at 1-800-sucker for this special deal!

        • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday November 23 2019, @06:05PM

          by Anonymous Coward on Saturday November 23 2019, @06:05PM (#923896)

          And, for only $89.99 more, we can capture the procedure on video, for you to share with friends and family!

          I already have a video of my latest colonoscopy to give as gifts to friends and family.

          Thanks muchly for the offer. Maybe next year.

  • (Score: 2) by toddestan on Sunday November 24 2019, @02:02AM

    by toddestan (4982) on Sunday November 24 2019, @02:02AM (#924044)

    I have to agree. Sometimes watching a video really is the best way to learn how to do something, like taking apart something that's complicated - such as modern electronics that are not meant to be taken apart. It can be really handy to see exactly where and how to jam the putty knife into the thing to get it apart without breaking it.

    Other times it's just infuriating. I don't need or want to watch a video on how to install a plugin for Eclipse or to set up a Raspberry Pi to serve up some files. I have no desire to sit through 10 minutes of someone rambling while watching them type in a terminal window. I'd rather just have an article or some instructions I can scan through and say "Oh, that's the piece I'm missing!"

    Luckily some videos have the transcription option, which can often tell me quickly if the video is going to be informative any possibly worth sitting through, or if it's going to just waste my time.

  • (Score: 2) by hemocyanin on Sunday November 24 2019, @05:11AM

    by hemocyanin (186) on Sunday November 24 2019, @05:11AM (#924101) Journal

    I think we've all probably gone to youtube to learn how to do something (for me, plumbing -- I've saved many thousands of dollars) and it obviously has its place, but it seems the modern information aesthetic is to glom everything together. I quit using Gmail years ago because it was so hard to use because of that glomming. In recent versions of OSX, when you open finder it doesn't default to your user folder anymore, but rather to some massive list of everything on your machine -- it just adds a step I have move around to do what I know what I want to do. I don't treat my files like I'm going window shopping -- I want a specific thing and the quickest way to get there. When I'm on a hard search for something I misplaced, for all of the computing resources apple wastes on spotlight etc, the fastest way to get there for me usually, is to open terminal and type find ~ | grep -i somethingOrOther.

    Doing a web search would be so much better if the results were less of a random blob and much more segregated: text, audio, pictures, video, news (DDG actually does a relatively good job of this as mentioned above). I think it is rare to not know whether you want an article or a video, so throwing up videos when you are looking to order a part is waste, just like throwing up parts lists when you want to see an example before you wade into fixing your borkenDoDad.