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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

#41

Post by beaconstudios »

carsongross wrote: post #36
beaconstudios wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

> flat design and washed-out colours are great compared to the graphics-and-rounded-edges horror that we used to contend with See my sibling comment: flat UI improved default aesthetics but hurt UX. We should have retained simulated depth (and higher contrasts for important UI elements) for the usability advantages. It was a matter of refining what we had, rather than tossing it all out.

flat UI doesn't have to be completely depth-free though. I agree with you when it comes to completely flat (metro-style) design where no depth cues are provided. Material and bootstrap styles are considered flat UI, from what I understand.

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

#42

Post by fastball »

Pxtl wrote: post #33
primo44 wrote: post #7

Now if only the Google maps (mobile version) devs would read this. On Android anyway, no matter how much you zoom the text labels on things like street and highway numbers will not enlarge. 5 years ago that wasn't the case.

To be fair, it makes sense that Google Maps would have distinct concepts for "zooming in to the map" that would be separate from "resizing font". The inverse problem exists on the browser, though - there's no way to resize the viewport on mobile.

The font size in Mobile Safari is easily enlarged.

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

#43

Post by denzil_correa »

primo44 wrote: post #7

Now if only the Google maps (mobile version) devs would read this. On Android anyway, no matter how much you zoom the text labels on things like street and highway numbers will not enlarge. 5 years ago that wasn't the case.

Off topic but does anyone else feel that Google Maps (and in general Maps) have just regressed in quality? In particular, while using directions. The most common problem I face on my iPhone (and I've heard the same from people using Android) is - compass orientation. It's so predictably bad that I have now started moving the opposite direction which the compass suggests. I'm more right than wrong when I do so. This wasn't the case 5 years ago on my iPhone4 when Google and Apple worked together to create the Maps application. I wonder if it has got to do with the same event.

I've used multiple phones across continents but yet tend to suffer from the exact same problem. Strange!

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

#44

Post by fastball »

chiph wrote: post #2

"Congratulations, here's your first set of glasses" - the present I got when I turned 50. While the site focuses on seniors, a lot of the suggestions are good ones in any case - fonts larger than legalese and with good contrast will make your page more easily approachable and less likely to lose viewers who get frustrated because they can't read what you're trying to say.

Honestly, I've worn glasses all my life, and it's never occurred to me that, when I'm not wearing my glasses, the websites are the one's at fault for not making themselves more readable.

I think "web developers should make things more readable" is addressing the symptom and not the problem. The solution is simple when it comes to readability: wear corrective lenses.

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

#45

Post by fastball »

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…

Your eyesight with glasses is just "ok"??

How bad is your eyesight with corrective lenses?

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

#46

Post by jdmichal »

Pxtl wrote: post #34
chiph wrote: post #2

"Congratulations, here's your first set of glasses" - the present I got when I turned 50. While the site focuses on seniors, a lot of the suggestions are good ones in any case - fonts larger than legalese and with good contrast will make your page more easily approachable and less likely to lose viewers who get frustrated because they can't read what you're trying to say.

About half the devs in my team have their font rendering cranked up on their desktops, and they're all in their 20s, so it's not just old people who benefit from this.

First change I make on any Windows box is to bump up the desktop rendering to 125% or 150%, depending on the monitor size and resolution. I also set a minimum font size in Firefox of 14.

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

#47

Post by ASalazarMX »

a3n wrote: post #40
boomlinde wrote: post #30

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…

> 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 This comment anecdotally reinforces my impression that UX people today (I assume you're either a UX people, or a people interested in UX) have a bias for full-width sites and browsers. I rarely run my browser full-width (and I think many UX/UI designers rarely…

> have a bias for full-width sites and browsers.

Ah, of course. He's using it wrong!

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

#48

Post by mirimir »

boomlinde wrote: post #30

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…

Also, a couple of the images leave me wondering. The walk with orange and black walls? The iPad, keyboard, mouse and pen? And no alt text? Strange.

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

#49

Post by a3n »

giardini wrote: post #37
adrianN wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The less a website changes when I turn on Reader Mode in Firefox, the more I like the website.

But Reader Mode is not always available. I've settled into using the menu option "View..Page Style...No Style" on noisy pages. Now I need a "No Style" browser that finds the beginning of the narrative automatically.

On Firefox that's "View ... Page Style ... No style." And I do that enough times per day (precious snowflake designers, take note) that I installed the Firefox addon "Disable Style button" which adds a red/white "CSS" stop sign button. https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/disable-style...

Honestly, that one button fixes almost every UI/UX problem I encounter. I never use Reader Mode, I never open developer tools, I just nuke styles, read the site and move on.

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