Designing an Accessible Website for Older Adults with Consideration of Visual Perception

Abstract

The number and proportion of older adults in the world are rapidly growing every year and the need for Internet use among this age group is also increasing. Older people might face two major types of problems: one, Lack of knowledge in using the internet, and two, physical impairments in areas such as vision, cognition, speech, and hearing. Older adults, like other age groups, have a need and interest in using the Internet, but unfortunately, the designs are not adapted to the needs of this population, and this group is counted among the minorities. To solve these issues, when designing websites, the problems of this age group should be taken into account, and educational training should be prepared and produced for people with limited Internet skills. These issues will not only affect today's older population or the so-called baby boomers, it should be considered that physical problems will also exist in future older people (today's youth) who might have more knowledge in using the Internet and the design of the webpages must be made accessible for them. This thesis explores various problems that can arise due to aging and is concerned with the visual design of an accessible educational website and finding appropriate design solutions according to accessibility guidelines. For each visual element of the website, various design solutions are considered to make the website more accessible and usable. When the designs were prepared, the web pages were evaluated with five participants over the age of sixty, through the usability testing method. The findings indicate that considering accessibility when designing a website can make it easier for the users to work with the website and it increases their self-confidence in using them. As a result, they are able to use the Internet on their own without needing help from those around them. This paper discusses only the design of visual elements, which can be useful for older users whose vision ranges from low to very good.