Topics in Usability
Usability for the Old and Young

Older AdultsChildrenBabies

Related Topics:
Readabilty Research

Working with Older Adults

Arthur, D. and Rogers, Wendy, A. (Eds.) Handbook of Human Factors and the Older Adult.  Academic Press San Diego, CA, 1997.  ISBN 0-12-257680-2.

The Universal Design File: Designing for People of All Ages and Abilities
Authors: Story, M. F., Mueller, J. L., Mace, D. L., The Center for Universal Design, NC State University, 1998

Older, Wiser, Wired a resource site from AARP

Fidelity Investments: Eight Lessons Learned (on Older, Wiser, Wired). This is a summary of work by Tom Tullis and Ann Chadwick-Dias on studies focused on improving the usability of web sites for older adults. At AARP, he was able to briefly describe some of this work, which has yielded eight lessons learned and, for each, the design implications for designing for older adults on the Web.

How can I make my web site more accessible to older adults? Michael Bernard on the Optimal Web Design site

Creating Senior-Friendly Web Sites (pdf)- Center for Medicare Information

Making Your Web Site Senior Friendly (pdf) - Checklist at Usability.gov

Interface Design Guidelines for Users of All Ages (pdf) - AgeLight

Web Usability for Senior Citizens: 46 Design Guidelines Based on Usability Studies with People Age 65 and Older - NielsenNorman Group.
This is a commercial report ($125 to download), but the introductory page includes a summary and some links to related resources

Usability for Senior Citizens - Jakob Nielsen's Alertbox April 2002

Working with Children

Druin, Allison, The Design of Children's Technology; How We Design, What We Design and Why  Morgan Kaufmann Publishers, 1998. ISBN: 155860507X  

CHI-WEB archives of a discussion on designing for children

Children as our Design Partners (Intergenerational Design Team) - Allison Druin's Research site

Computers in the Classroom: Moving from Tool to Medium - Perrone, C (et al) in Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication Volume 2, Number 3: December, 1996

CSILE - Computer Supported Intentional Learning Environments - The CSILE research project is based at the Centre for Applied Cognitive Science at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education of the University of Toronto

Designing Multimedia by Lisa Lopuk, Peachpit Press, 1998 - This book contains some information on designing for children

EASI K-12 Education Technology Center

Guidelines for Usablity Testing with Children - On the Microsoft usability site:  L. Hanna, K. Risden and K. Alexander in interactions - Sept-Oct 1997.

How can I make my web site more accessible to children? - Michael Bernard on the Optimal Web Design site

How to Comply With The Children's Online Privacy Protection Rule - from the Kidz Privacy website

Kids Design the Future - project web site from the University of Maryland HCIL

Keys to Learning Styles of Children - A short news article abstracted from Working Mother, September 1989

Kids' Corner: Website Usability for Children
Executive summary of a 2002 report on usability for children by Shuli Gilutz and Jakob Nielsen. 

Testing Educational Software with Children By Yves Rannou in Usability Interface, January 2002. Case study of usability testing of  an educational software package for young users.

Usability, Jr. - How to Run a Successful Usability Test with Children by Silica Larkin in Usability Interface, January 2002. Guidelines and lessons learned.

What Children Want By David Dick in Usability Interface, January 2002. Short article on important aspects of designing and testing for children.

When Kids Use the Web: A Naturalistic Comparison of Children's Navigation Behaviour and Subjective Preferences on Two WWW Sites - Sullivan, Norris, Peet and Soloway

Designing for Babies

Tiny Eyes - A baby vision simulator

Infant Usability - by Scott McDaniel. A humorous heuristic review of the usability of a baby.