In Search of Information on Websites: A Question of Age?

To fight against info-exclusion in an aging society, it is important to make website information available to all generations. If we want to achieve this goal we need to know the impact of not only age but also gender, educational background and frequency of internet use. Therefore, this paper presents the results of an explorative Dutch eye-tracking case study, which focuses on information search behaviour (navigation patterns and use of the search box, effectiveness, efficiency and user satisfaction). 29 younger and 29 older participants completed a search task on three websites. It was found that the greatest factor impacting on information search behaviour is not always age. In one case, heatmaps showed clearly that the navigation patterns of older participants using internet daily were quite similar to those of younger ones. Finally, I present some implications for organisations wanting to (re)design their own website.

[1]  Robert Johnson,et al.  Designing universal access: web-applications for the elderly and disabled , 2007, Cognition, Technology & Work.

[2]  Steve Krug,et al.  Don't Make Me Think!: A Common Sense Approach to Web Usability , 2000 .

[3]  Thomas S. Tullis,et al.  Web usability and age: how design changes can improve performance , 2002 .

[4]  Patricia A. Urban,et al.  Coping with Diversity , 2003 .

[5]  A M Wichansky,et al.  Usability testing in 2000 and beyond , 2000, Ergonomics.

[6]  Kasper Hornbæk,et al.  Measuring usability: are effectiveness, efficiency, and satisfaction really correlated? , 2000, CHI.

[7]  M. Prensky.  Digital Natives, Digital Immigrants , 2001 .

[8]  Vern L. Bengtson,et al.  Emergent Theories of Aging , 1988 .

[9]  Peter Gregor,et al.  Designing for dynamic diversity: interfaces for older people , 2002, Assets '02.

[10]  Mary Zajicek,et al.  Multimodality and interactional differences in older adults , 2003, Universal Access in the Information Society.

[11]  D. Dannefer.  What's in a name?: An account of the neglect of variability in the study of aging. , 1988 .

[12]  M. Prensky.  Do They Really Think Differently , 2001 .

[13]  Dan Hawthorn,et al.  How universal is good design for older users , 2002 .

[14]  M. Prensky.  Digital Natives, Digital Immigrants Part 1 , 2001 .

[15]  Thomas S. Tullis,et al.  Older Adults and the Web: Lessons Learned from Eye-Tracking , 2007, HCI.

[16]  Constantine Stephanidis,et al.  Universal Access in Human-Computer Interaction , 2011 .