Usability expert Jakob Neilson has an written interesting piece on web access for those is their middle years, and also touches on the needs of senior citizens.
Between the ages of 25 and 60, people's ability to use websites declines by 0.8% per year — mostly because they spend more time per page, but also because of navigation difficulties.
He concludes:
I do have two actionable conclusions for you:
- When doing user testing, make sure to include test participants across the entire age range you're targeting.
- Don't believe everything your 25-year old Web designers tell you about "what's easy" — especially if your target audience is 50-year-old corporate managers.
Keywords: Accessibility, Jakob Neilson, middle age, usability, web