Improving Accessibility for Seniors in a Life-long Learning Network: A Usability Study of Learning Websites

2. Related Work

Research shows that seniors are increasingly using the Internet to access information, to meet their needs for fun and mental stimulation, for education, to increase their social interaction and to serve as a useful medium to provide them information with a high level of interest in health information (Hendrix, 2000; Nahm et al., 2006; Arch, 2008). However, even websites that are designed to be compliant with accessibility standards catering to specific impairments may be ineffective in enabling access for older adults (Dickinson et al., 2007). The accessibility problems aged people encounter are mainly attributed to the lack of awareness and implementation of usability design guidelines dedicated especially for the senior users group (Morrell, 2005; Dickinson et al., 2007; Aula, 2005).