Stories
Slash Boxes
Comments

SoylentNews is people

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.


Original Submission

 
This discussion has been archived. No new comments can be posted.
Display Options Threshold/Breakthrough Mark All as Read Mark All as Unread
The Fine Print: The following comments are owned by whoever posted them. We are not responsible for them in any way.
  • (Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday November 23 2019, @03:06PM (5 children)

    by Anonymous Coward on Saturday November 23 2019, @03:06PM (#923839)

    Quality of everything has fallen.
    It will continue to fall, too.
    This is what happens when an industry grows and its labor pool does too. You get more less-qualified people contributing because at large numbers, you can't be anything better than "average."

    Starting Score:    0  points
    Moderation   +1  
       Interesting=1, Total=1
    Extra 'Interesting' Modifier   0  

    Total Score:   1  
  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday November 23 2019, @06:50PM (3 children)

    by Anonymous Coward on Saturday November 23 2019, @06:50PM (#923915)

    > Quality of everything has fallen.

    Corollary from a wise friend, "Anything good goes out of the market."

    Think about it...as soon as there is something good, it is undercut by a cheap copy, which eventually puts the original out of business (people that don't care about quality make buying decisions on price). Thus, if you see something nice, buy it now, perhaps even stock up if it is the sort of thing that wears out.

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday November 23 2019, @09:40PM (1 child)

      by Anonymous Coward on Saturday November 23 2019, @09:40PM (#923968)

      Truth. Oftentimes it's the same company that made the original "good" product that cheapens it a little more every year as they profit-optimize it and coast on their good name.
      If something is quality at a reasonable price, rest assured, the long term business plan is NOT to let that last. It's a way to gain new customers, but once gained, the customer base will be milked.

      Example: Honda Motors

      • (Score: 3, Insightful) by sjames on Sunday November 24 2019, @02:36AM

        by sjames (2882) on Sunday November 24 2019, @02:36AM (#924055) Journal

        This. It's why consumers buy on price and not quality. Price is the only metric that is reliably true.

    • (Score: 2) by hendrikboom on Sunday November 24 2019, @10:26PM

      by hendrikboom (1125) Subscriber Badge on Sunday November 24 2019, @10:26PM (#924280) Homepage Journal

      A student once asked me. "Don't you have more than one shirt?"
      I replied, "I have lots of shirts. But when I see something I like, I buy lots of it, because who knows when it will be available again?"

  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday November 26 2019, @05:11PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday November 26 2019, @05:11PM (#924989)

    A recession will come along eventually. Enterprises will fail. The lower quality labor will be culled, and sent to the unemployment line.

    When it does, perhaps this time around we can at least appreciate the jump in quality, rather than merely lamenting the higher unemployment.

    Remember, we ASKED for what we're getting right now. Everyone's got jobs, and thus, most jobs are being done poorly.

    The cyclical inverse correlation between employment levels and work quality will continue, at least until we get automated systems that are capable of improving themselves.