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Generation UX – How to make websites age-friendly

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Re: Generation UX – How to make websites age-friendly

#21

Post by leni536 »

Swizec wrote: post #5
coldpie wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There's a limit, though. I end up browsing most modern websites at ~60% zoom, because the text is so huge I find it distracting. Luckily the browser zoom feature is pretty great these days, so users can view at any size they like.

There's a limit, though. I end up browsing most modern websites at ~120% zoom when I'm tired, because it's more comfortable. Lay back in chair, still read comfortably. There's so much wasted whitespace it usually doesn't even break the layout. I'm 29 and my eyesight with glasses is ok. Been wearing 'em for 22 years. But really the worst offenders are gray text on lighter gray background websites. Whyyyy designers why…

I would bet those designers never try to read the text on the site, they just adjust the contrast until it "looks good" with Lorem ipsum.

Re: Generation UX – How to make websites age-friendly

#22

Post by liveoneggs »

rawTruthHurts wrote: post #12
carsongross wrote: post #6

The UX world has gone so far backwards, regardless of age, in the last five years it's hard to know where to begin: flat design, washed out colors, thin fonts, buttons that look like badges that look like input boxes that look like borders, modals that take over the entire screen with only a faint x in the upper right corner to indicate what is going on, input fields with internal labels that disappear as soon as any…

But all those are UI concerns rather than UX, aren't they?

The UI services the UX

Re: Generation UX – How to make websites age-friendly

#23

Post by Etab »

squid_ca wrote: post #19
YCode wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yet inevitably every middle manager thinks carousels are a great idea. I'm convinced 9 times out of 10 carousels are installed because the customer got sick of looking at their own site.

I'll give you 5 times out of 10. The other 5 is the designer's solution to trying to fit 10 different stakeholder's crap "above the fold."

We once built a site (for a major consumer brand) where the client insisted on so many carousel slides that they started duplicating slides in the lineup because it had been too long since they’d been seen.

(Our recommendation was to avoid a carousel, but the client had to have it!)

Re: Generation UX – How to make websites age-friendly

#24

Post by cableshaft »

carsongross wrote: post #6

The UX world has gone so far backwards, regardless of age, in the last five years it's hard to know where to begin: flat design, washed out colors, thin fonts, buttons that look like badges that look like input boxes that look like borders, modals that take over the entire screen with only a faint x in the upper right corner to indicate what is going on, input fields with internal labels that disappear as soon as any…

I think simple flat design and simple color schemes was a good change, personally. The rest I don't really disagree with.

Re: Generation UX – How to make websites age-friendly

#25

Post by rdiddly »

Here I foolishly hoped for some evidence of true understanding of the aged. Unfortunately the tl;dr is: 1) News flash, old people are out there, they have money, and some of them even know how to go online. 2) We need a term for this new species... I know, how about 'digiboomers!' 3) An old person is basically a collection of disabilities you need to plan around. 4) In light of 3) when an old person abandons a task it's probably because they're bewildered, not because your game is weak. (Not a word on how to address deficiencies in your content, that their lifetime of experience will enable them to pick up instantly. Or their experience and subsequent impatience with scams, marketing and bullshit. Or the higher level of quality and depth they're seeking in all arenas. Or for that matter, what they're like or what's important to them.)

Re: Generation UX – How to make websites age-friendly

#26

Post by ashark »

nailer wrote: post #17
carsongross wrote: post #6

The UX world has gone so far backwards, regardless of age, in the last five years it's hard to know where to begin: flat design, washed out colors, thin fonts, buttons that look like badges that look like input boxes that look like borders, modals that take over the entire screen with only a faint x in the upper right corner to indicate what is going on, input fields with internal labels that disappear as soon as any…

> flat design, washed out colors I think these are positive for UX: compare the shotgun blast of color on OS X default icons to the simple, clear shapes of Windows 10's default icons.

Being able to tell things apart at a glance equals a "shotgun blast of color"? We're not talking about the Hotdog Stand theme, you know.

The more methods you use to differentiate things from one another the easier it is to navigate an interface. Abandoning depth so completely was already stupid, mostly-white-on-blue-uniform-squares? You have color, use it! That shit was awesome when I was 19 and wanted to make my XFCE monochrome because I thought it looked cool. It's not awesome when major OS companies copy my awful teenage taste in desktop aesthetic just because it makes for slick-looking screenshots. Please, someone, have better sense than that.

Look, this: https://dri1.img.digitalrivercontent.net/Storefront/Company/...

Is not something to aspire to. If you think that's easy on the eyes I can only assume you never used interfaces back when you could tell one thing from another without having to play Where's Waldo—which, admittedly, was pretty long ago at this point. Look at the buttons on that dialog! Who OK'd that?! Look at those crappy icons that look like the 404-not-found of the icon world! Don't look at where Mail is on the far left. Look at the center of the screen. Tell me which one's mail. Can you even guess? Just tried it on my MacBook, and I could tell what every icon was out of my peripheral vision, thanks to the "shotgun blast of color".

Re: Generation UX – How to make websites age-friendly

#27

Post by ryanar »

The article focuses on over 55s who have money to spend online. I liked the part that spoke to how 40 year olds and up are less likely to explore a website and more likely to abandon a task.

I run into this a lot when I watch how my older users interact with our site. They act like they are about to hit the nuke button when performing some actions on the site, and I am sitting there thinking it is totally fine, even if you mess up you can just go back. But there is so much anxiety around accidentally messing something up that they would rather abandon the task than do it.

I hope that I can continue to improve my skill in UI/UX because it is so critical as a web developer.

Re: Generation UX – How to make websites age-friendly

#28

Post by FabHK »

cableshaft wrote: post #24
carsongross wrote: post #6

The UX world has gone so far backwards, regardless of age, in the last five years it's hard to know where to begin: flat design, washed out colors, thin fonts, buttons that look like badges that look like input boxes that look like borders, modals that take over the entire screen with only a faint x in the upper right corner to indicate what is going on, input fields with internal labels that disappear as soon as any…

I think simple flat design and simple color schemes was a good change, personally. The rest I don't really disagree with.

But you probably "grew up" with the prior, more easily discoverable interface versions. (Remember that when Steve Jobs presented the iPhone, he had to explain the "flick to scroll" gesture, because it was so new - previously, you'd have to touch a tiny triangle in the corner of the scroll view, with a stylus, to scroll... :-)

When I gave my mom an iPad, which already came with the fancy new thin flat iOS design, I had to first switch to a larger, fatter font (thanks, Apple, for making this possible in the Accessibility settings!), and then spend quite some time explaining things, as many controls ("yes mom, that word is actually a button you can press") and gestures were not easily discoverable.

The fat 3D buttons were much easier to discern. (Note that Apple also has a "Button Shapes" settings in Accessibility to re-enable them, though not as "3D". Maybe they could have a global "beginner" or "senior" setting that would switch these settings over from pretty to functional and discoverable...)

Re: Generation UX – How to make websites age-friendly

#29

Post by beaconstudios »

carsongross wrote: post #6

The UX world has gone so far backwards, regardless of age, in the last five years it's hard to know where to begin: flat design, washed out colors, thin fonts, buttons that look like badges that look like input boxes that look like borders, modals that take over the entire screen with only a faint x in the upper right corner to indicate what is going on, input fields with internal labels that disappear as soon as any…

flat design and washed-out colours are great compared to the graphics-and-rounded-edges horror that we used to contend with. Everything else, I agree with - especially around indistinct controls. Modals are fine as long as they have a clear shadow background and there's some kind of cancellation button on the main modal - and also, pressing ESC or clicking the shadow should close a modal. That's just UX 101.

Re: Generation UX – How to make websites age-friendly

#30

Post by boomlinde »

As sort of a sidenote: websites about UX seem to have the worst UX. Clicking the link, I'm not only met by a social sharing bar that uses 1/6th of the screen and screws scrolling up (because for some reason it should follow through my scrolling but somehow only be visible when scrolling upwards), but a faux-chat window overlaying the content where a Tom is asking me how he can help me. Not at all, thank you. At least being so up-front about how absolutely terrible your website is means I didn't stay long enough for a modal asking me to subscribe to their newsletter to pop up.

Does anyone actually believe that this crap leads to a better user experience? Are UX concepts and standards so inbred that the people involved just can't separate chocolate pudding from excrement anymore?

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