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Requirements identified from targeted studies
[Editor's DRAFT - 23 July 2008]

Page Contents

 Introduction

Within the WAI-AGE literature review, a range of focussed studies were considered that identified requirements or good practices for Web sites to accommodate the needs of older users.

Limitations-based studies

From studies looking at groups of older adults with specific impairments or mild disabilities related to vision, mobility or cognition, we can identify the following recommendations:

Comprehension and cognition studies still have the jury out regarding the advantages and disadvantages of broad vs. deep site hierarchies (e.g. Berkov 2007; Savitch and Zaphiris, 2006). However, all agree that hypertext is more cognitively demanding than printed material due to the extra decisions that have to be made with respect to navigation. A poor navigation path has been shown to lead to a poor reading order which impairs comprehension and retain-ability – lending support for the suggestion of ‘previous/next’ links within certain types of documents.

Design aspect based studies

Studies looking at specific aspects of Web design identified the following recommendations:

Most of these targeted design studies identified issues experienced by older users, but did not necessarily make recommendations for overcoming them

Site function based studies

Studies looking at specific types of Web sites, e.g. relating to e-Learning or e-Commerce, also identified a few recommendations to assist older users:

Again, like the targeted design studies, the studies of particular types of websites regularly identified issues experienced by older users, but did not necessarily make recommendations for overcoming them.