The over-65 market is becoming an increasingly important one for the internet, as more and more users come online each day. Many website owners assume that seniors steer clear of the internet, but this couldn’t be further from the truth. And this means that understanding how to make a website senior friendly is crucial to get those clicks.

Senior Friendly Website Design Tips

Taking into account the following design best practices will help to ensure your website is attractive and easy to use a more senior audience:

  • More White Space: Clarity is important when it comes to designing web sites for seniors and nothing gives more clarity than white space. You need your text and graphical elements to be easily found and not confused with other sections. Placing plenty of white space around your content will allow seniors to isolate what they need to focus on.
  • Use Images/Bold Text to Enhance Navigation: Text links can be difficult for seniors to spot quickly and are a fuss to click on with precision especially on smaller screen sizes. However, you can eliminate this hurdle by using images to act as your links. This not only makes links easier to click, but also allows quicker navigation around your website. And if you are unable to use images for certain links, make sure that text links are bold and stand out.
  • Large Fonts: Many seniors, even those with glasses, can struggle to read fonts on a screen especially smaller screen sizes like mobiles and tablets. And that’s why it’s essential that you work with large fonts – don’t be afraid to go a little higher than standard font size.
  • Easy to Find Contact Details: Finding contact details for a website owner can often be a real test of your navigation skills. And this is an obstacle that seniors don’t want to be dealing with. You also have to consider the fact that over-65s are more likely to want to speak to someone over the phone rather than through a form or virtual chat. Accordingly, your contact details need to be on every page and easy to find.
  • Large Search Boxes: A website packed full of content is a wonderful thing, but isolating the information you need can be difficult. Search boxes are a quick solution to this. However, search boxes are, all too often, small designs hidden away on the side of the screen. It goes without saying that seniors need search boxes which are large and easily identifiable – think Google.
  • Breadcrumbs and Side Menus: Even the most savvy internet user can get lost on a website and this fact is compounded for older users. But it’s possible to prevent this. Breadcrumbs are links that can be inserted into the top of the page to take you back through each page you have visited. And don’t forget side menus, these can be kept locked in view at all times to provide you with a quick link to specific sections.

For more information on how to make your website more senior friendly, don’t hesitate to get in touch.