Age Differences in search of Web Pages: the Effects of Link Size, Link Number, and Clutter

Topic: Age Differences in search of web pages: The effects of link size, link number and clutter

Class: Masters in Information Management (2009-2010)

Course: Web Design and Management

Group Members: Nzurum, Iheanacho Okezie MIM/EDUC/4234/2009-2010
Okugbe, Isaiah Jeremiah MIM/EDUC/7424/2009-2010
Obikaonu, Pauline Chimuru MIM/EDUC/6668/2009-2010

SUMMARY
The authors’ state that it has been established via tests carried out that links located to the left of a webpage are more easily found than others. They also believe that older adults make up the bulk of the internet users and some of the benefits they derive include communication via email, chat room access and discussion groups, to mention but a few. The use of the internet has also helped improve the well-being of older adults given the wealth of health information they have online access to. Nonetheless, older adults encounter more problems while trying to access the internet than younger users.
Conventions exist which allow users to search and navigate the web more easily and a major feature that affects web navigation is how conspicuous the links are and also, changing text sizes can help improve reading. This is particularly helpful to older adults who are more prone to visual fatigue and limited reading speed and accuracy.
It need be mentioned however that Internet users find things more easily on the net when items are in consistent and expected locations. In this regard, targets in the upper left corner of the screen are much more likely to be found quickly.
The authors again adjudge that age differences in search are more pronounced when targets are inconsistently placed and particularly, older adults would find this more challenging. Also, clutter can affect simple or difficult a search can be en though this depends on its location. Studies have again showed that in older adults, increased clutter and too many links adversely affect how well they can read web content.
To substantiate their claim, the authors presented details of a test conducted with two groups of users (20-31 and 55-62). A total of 192 graphics, 96 web pages and 96 target screens were created. A visual search task was then divided into 4 blocks each consisting of 24 trials which the two groups of users were subjected to. Three key variables were observed and these were presence, clutter and links. The main purpose of the study was to examine the influence of several characteristics of web pages that affect visual search. At the end of the experiment, search performance was found to be enhanced when links were larger with less clutter and fewer competing links, as well as when target links were located in the left region of the page. Thus it can be said that page design is a major contributing factor to how enhanced a visual search can turn out. Nonetheless, it was also observed from the experiment that simple changes in web design such as increasing print size alone is not sufficient for older adult users but rather, changes in location and colour do suffice.
It is also thought that both physical and cognitive declines affect the ability of an older person to use technology but design considerations help improve usability. Furthermore, used and unused link colours should be changed to contrast with the background of a webpage. Another valuable practice is to match user expectations to each search.
Finally, two major limitations to the study were identified as equipment specifications as evident in the monitors used and the fact that some older adults experienced some difficulty with the colour vision test that was used in the experiment.

CRITICISM
The allusion that older adults constitute the growing internet user group may not hold true as at today because of the proliferation of young internet users in the world as a whole. It is also obvious that the article is based on finding from an experiment conducted in the USA alone. This in itself is not enough reason to conclude that older adults use the web more than others.
Yet another issue to take into consideration is that this article is based on what obtained in the year 2001/2002 and the internet world and of course usage statistics have since changed tremendously. An example that readily comes to mind is the fact that these days, institutions of learning deliver a lot of content online. A greater majority of those who patronize these sites are of course the younger generation.
Gain, proliferation of cutting edge technology has brought with it a lot of appeal to the gaming community which of course consists of mostly the younger generation.
Another sour point to the article is the fact that it is filled with so much technical jargon which may not appeal to the average reader. Specifically, in various sections the write-up uses terms that would best be understood in visual medicine, statistics and perhaps by the very technology-savvy.
Finally, it is possible that the tests may have been conducted with utilities which probably have been overtaken by more precise and better technology. Thus, there is no guarantee that the results obtained then would be the same if the experiment were to be carried out today.