Guidelines or design considerations that we follow at E-Maximus for older people

 Some obvious way/s to make the user aware that a page has not finished and requires scrolling.

 Avoid technical terms and provide explanation if they are used. If possible provide some examples too.

 Links should stand out. Also maintain consistency in the manner how the links look and behave.

 Maintain consistency in the behavior of pictures throughout the website. Link each of the images to
read more about the topic or avoid linking any of the images. This applies to all the attention-grabbing
features on a page (e.g. headings, pictures, icons, instructions and bullets).

 Visited links should change color.

 Provide an HTML-version of as much content as possible. Also try to avoid situations that require
users to install software plugins ( Adobe Acrobat, Adobe Flash, etc…) in order access critical
information. JavaScript should degrade gracefully if not enabled.

 Make content as concise and clear as possible – consider providing two versions of the same content
(‘teaser’ and ‘main content’) and allow users to decide which one they would want to access. This is
typically achieved by a “read more” link.

 Optionally Sites should provide a ‘Make the writing bigger’ link with accompanying illustrations/icons
and always use high contrast to display text e.g. black text on an off-white background.

 Using an off-white background is preferable to white because it reduces the chances of eyestrain for
people who are slow readers.

 Provide explicit instructions by using the imperative forms of verbs (e.g. ‘Go to more details on…’
instead of ‘read more’, ‘Find a…’ etc.)

 These are the core areas where attention is required:

• Layout
• Style
• Colour
• Contrast
• Fonts, colour and size
• General Usability
• Accessibility
• Educating the User
• Links & Resources
• Related Reading