Do tech designers fail older customers?

[Slydude]

I'm a regular reader / follower of Kirk McElhearn's ​Kirkville site. I don't always agree with everything there but today I found something that mirrors some of the comments many of us have made here. The article Kirk summarizes details numerous ways that modern design fails older consumers. The original article, iwritten by a former Apple VP, goes into more detaiil and can be found here.

As someone with both visual and physical challenges this stuff gets my attention. What would you do to change desins to make them more inclusive?

 

[chscag]

Very interesting article. As you probably remember, my wife and I volunteer at several nursing homes and are very aware of some of the things that the author describes. Very few folks that we meet and attend to at those homes are using a modern phone for example. A flip phone seems to be much easier for them to use rather than an iPhone which requires more manual dexterity. And I can only remember one woman who actually had an iPad with her and used it.

Of course folks in nursing homes for the most part are not there because of advanced age but usually because they require some special care. Many have suffered a debilitating stroke which means they may have lost use of their arms, legs, speech, and so forth. And then there is always the problem of dementia.

Diminished hearing and eyesight are also something that limits the use of modern technology. Most recreational areas at nursing homes have a very large screen TV with closed captioning turned on.

I agree with the author (who by the way is a very senior citizen in his 80s) to the extent that some of which he comments on are very real. However, face it or not, modern technology such as iPhones, iPads, Game Boys, X-Box, and whatever, are designed for the younger and more vigorous generation. That's not to say old fogies like me can't enjoy them as well.

Good stuff Sly, I just increased the size of your Sombrero!

 

[Slydude]

I think the author of the original article stumbled into something whether he intended to or not. Many of the changes/modifications that would help seniors use the technology would help others as well. I've been wearing glasses since about the age of 8 or 9 and it seems that each successive prescription has gotten stronger.

I had corneal transplants in the late '80's which helped a lot but didn't alleviate the need for glasses. I keep waiting for someone at Cupertino to address the issues surrounding text readability on these gorgeous high resolution monitors we have now. The text size may be fine for youngsters but it can be a pain for everyone else.

As you know I'm probably going to restart some incarnation of the video podcasts sometime early this Summer. I'm looking at ways to make the information more available for folks with visiion / hearing issues. Another topic likely to come up early on is how people use their phones/iPads to work around various issues. I've been in some hotels, for example, where the bathroom mirror was mounted too high for me to use effectively. My solution: Use the FaceTime camera on your phone as a mirror.

 

[pm-r]

I keep waiting for someone at Cupertino to address the issues surrounding text readability on these gorgeous high resolution monitors we have now. The text size may be fine for youngsters but it can be a pain for everyone else.

I will say the average text size is usually easily modified with an enlargement option to make reading easier for some of us seniors, but one of my main gripes and one that I think Apple actually started with their KB articles, is using a gray font on a slightly lighter gray background. Almost unreadable and makes for a very unenjoyable reading experience.


- Patrick
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[chscag]

I've been in some hotels, for example, where the bathroom mirror was mounted too high for me to use effectively. My solution: Use the FaceTime camera on your phone as a mirror.

I understand. I've been in service stations and popular rest stops where if you were in a wheelchair you were probably not going to be able to reach any of the facilities very easily. I will give the State of Texas credit for enforcing the handicap laws. All rest stops along the Texas interstate highways are now required to have handicap access. The same goes for state and municipal buildings. The federal government who I worked for many years long ago adapted and enforced handicap access.

As you know I'm probably going to restart some incarnation of the video podcasts sometime early this Summer. I'm looking at ways to make the information more available for folks with vision / hearing issues.

Something I've noticed in our forums and other forums I have access to is the growing number of folks who have problems viewing the newer brighter retina screens on Macs. The problems that some report are headaches, dizziness, and even nausea when using a machine with a retina screen. And it seems nowadays you can't purchase a new Mac without a retina screen. I guess the only way is to buy a Mac Mini and then a non retina monitor to go along with it.

Apple is reportedly going to announce a 31" professional grade monitor to go along with a coming Mac Pro sometime this year. I can't imagine staring into something like that 6 or 8 hours a day. The Cataract Surgery business is going to grow by leaps and bounds in the coming future. LOL.

 

[krs]

One can actually take the word "older" out of the subject title.

And the problem today, I think, is that the software and hardware designers are the ones deciding how something should be designed.

I ran a Product Management group for most of my professional life, after being a designer and design manager for the first ten years or so, and in those days Product Management in conjunction with Marketing, decided in detail how the hardware and software should function, including appearance, functionality, etc. etc.
The designers implemented what PM specified, today it seems to be individual designers who decide and they more often than not make a mess of it.
And I don't really blame them, it's not their forté.

 

[Slydude]

Yes. That lack of contrast was addresed during the article though not as much as I would have liked. Eons ago I completed a computer class that had a web page design activity as one of its components (think Netscape Communicator days). One of the things drilled into us was the need for sufficiant contrast between foreground and background.

You are right aboout one thiing Patrick: Many programs do offrer a means of increasing the text. I can think of several that use command + and command -. The problem s that many of these programs do not enlarge the text of menu items unless you make use of the accessibility features in )S X. Those features generally blow up the entire screen whether you need it to or not. The alternative is to enlarge the area around / near the mouse cursor. Neither of those is a good solution IMHO. It can be done better.

LG's monitors now come with software that seems to make it possible to easily adjust resolution of their monitors based on what's running. Haven't experimented with that yet but I think I have a script lying aound that could do the same thing.