Kara Pernice, With the baby boomer generation on the brink of becoming a tidal wave of silver surfers, we should be seeing a vast number of web users already web/cyber literate. Should we not be addressing a wider age demographic in regard to accessabilty, use and standards? Do you think it would be useful to start with the oldest surfers discussing these issues with the next gerneration down, the baby boomers who take the web for granted, but have yet to completely experience the challenges of growing older? Like other cultural traditions handed down, maybe we need listen to our elders and discuss with the next generation in order to discover the next enhancemets that will make the world wide web and even more powerful tool available to even more people both young and old?
Asked by bonzoid on Oct 30 2007 10:11:14 AM and supported by 27 members
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Absolutely! I mean there are of course the kinds of moral issues where we want to serve all populations but maybe if we take an even more practical approach - as this population grows, they’re going to have more money and disposable income and if we want to advertise to people and sell on the internet, if you do it well for people as they age, you’re certainly just going to do better as a business and your presence on the Web needs to reflect that you actually consider this group or they won’t be able to use your website. Or they’ll rebel against it if it’s bad. So beyond it being a nice thing to do, it’s a smart business decision to design your websites to meet the needs of people over the age of 65.