Testing Websites for Children
Does your business cater to young people?
Do children primarily use your website?
Have you tested your website‘s usability on your target market… children?
Children and toddlers, even, are using the internet on a regular basis. A website that targets these young people will need special design considerations, but it will also present challenges in user experience. What this means is that young kids have special needs and challenges that need to be taken into consideration when designing a website for them. These include:
Eye-hand coordination Non-readers or new readers Ability to click mouse buttons Ability to use keyboard
You may want to consider:
Having audio or video instructions Not placing important navigation below the fold Not using complicated functionality when simplicity will do Not recreating standard design conventions, this could be confusing
Check out an article in UX Matters that Heather Nam recently published entitled Designing User Experiences for Children. She lists a useful list of suggested design conventions when designing for children.
