Day 11 Test a “my cart” page from different user persona’s perspectives, share your personas!

Here I would like to share my thoughts about testing “my cart” page from the perspective of an elderly person. There are  specific challenges associated with elderly people using the internet. Some research by the Nielsen Norman Group in 2013 found that elderly users (those over 65 years old) were more likely to give up trying to accomplish something online, compared to those under aged 55. The study also found them to be over 40% slower at using the internet. Old aged people have disabilities and more limitations compared to younger users. 

There are some characteristics that are thought to affect elderly web users in particular. These include a lack of confidence online, a likelihood to read all the information they are presented with, weaker eyesight , color blindness ,motor disabilities and poorer short term memory.

some of the aspects to consider are as below. 

1. Friendly and intuitive user interface.

2. Font sizes should be readable ( at least 16 pixel) As for fonts, sans serif fonts are best.

3. Good contrast between the font color and the background color of the page.

4. show calls to action clearly and in large font.

5. Make sure live links are clearly separated from one another to prevent clicking on the wrong adjacent link accidentally.

6.make error messages very clear and state explicitly what needs to be done to overcome the problem. For example, many older users may not know what a 404 error is, or what they should do when they see one.

7. Provide "remove item" or "add item" buttons instead of asking the user to change "item quantity number"- it is easier and more error free.

8. Check if the "Continue Shopping" and "Proceed to Checkout" buttons are visible. 

9.Check if thumbnail photos of the items can be added to the shopping carts in addition to a text description, this re-assures the elderly customer that the right item has been added to the shopping cart.