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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, Touché) by khallow on Saturday November 23 2019, @01:41PM (4 children)

    by khallow (3766) Subscriber Badge on Saturday November 23 2019, @01:41PM (#923815) Journal
    Back in the day, you probably weren't older than dirt.
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  • (Score: 0, Flamebait) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday November 23 2019, @07:43PM (1 child)

    by Anonymous Coward on Saturday November 23 2019, @07:43PM (#923929)

    Why are you lashing out like a toddler today? Is the GOP's downfall for their crimes just making you lose your shit?

    • (Score: 1) by khallow on Sunday November 24 2019, @12:52AM

      by khallow (3766) Subscriber Badge on Sunday November 24 2019, @12:52AM (#924020) Journal

      Why are you lashing out like a toddler today?

      Sounds like I'm not the one that needs their diaper changed.

  • (Score: 3, Informative) by Phoenix666 on Sunday November 24 2019, @03:20AM (1 child)

    by Phoenix666 (552) on Sunday November 24 2019, @03:20AM (#924067) Journal

    I am not older than dirt. there are others more venerable than I am. but my first computer was a TRS-80s that used a cassette deck. my grandmother bought the first IBM PC and taught herself to program before she taught us. my grandfather brought home a special treat for us kids one day: the first console system with the first game, pong. a couple years later we did the first computer chat with an aspie we went to school with via a modem.

    By the time we got to college we were using elm, vi, and usenet. there was no web yet, and MUDs were all the rage. I know what it is to fall asleep and dream of tetris all night long. 

    So I have grown up alongside all this, and built chunks of it myself. I know eyebleed from bad graphics. as usual, whippersnappers don't know how pampered they are.

    --
    Washington DC delenda est.
    • (Score: 1) by khallow on Sunday November 24 2019, @04:09AM

      by khallow (3766) Subscriber Badge on Sunday November 24 2019, @04:09AM (#924087) Journal
      Well, I can say that I put up with some nasty graphics in the past too. But I have a bit more trouble with that stuff today.