According to reports written by members of the WAI-AGE Project, older people with dexterity issues suffer from steadiness of hand which makes it difficult to move in the desired direction causing issues with navigation and sliding off dynamic, drop-down or multilevel menus. Many of the guiding principles outlined in most reports follow those of the basic accessibility guidelines; however, when dealing with older people and web design, there are some further points to be considered.

“Parallels to WAI guidelines

• contrast – most of the guidelines reviewed recommended high contrast
• clear presentation
• clear writing
• clear navigation
• clarity of links
• augmentation with images”

Andrew Arch and Shadi Abou-Zhara 2004
“How Web Accessibility Guidelines Apply to Design for the Ageing Population”
http://www.w3.org/WAI/WAI-AGE/
Accessed 31 August 2009

The ability to view web content, although not a dexterity issue is relevant as it is a major issue for many older people. It is also relevant as many web designers use text as links. This is an issue for people with dexterity problems as small text can be extremely difficult to click on.

“Presentation and writing

• font use – generally recommending sans serif fonts
• white space – increases readability
• Text size – 12pt was recommended as a minimum by several authors. However, WCAG 1.0 and WCAG 2.0 both require text that be resized to suit the user’s needs.
• text spacing – often recommending spacing greater than the browser default”

Andrew Arch and Shadi Abou-Zhara 2004
“How Web Accessibility Guidelines Apply to Design for the Ageing Population”
http://www.w3.org/WAI/WAI-AGE/
Accessed 31 August 2009

There are many other age related issues which have some relevance to dexterity, such as minimising the need to click or double click on a page, removing flashing or moving clickable parts of a site and removing advertisements from sites. (These last two points relate also to the issue of information overload and visual confusion.)
The most interesting point of these reports is that all of the requirements are extremely simple to implement. It is sad and unfortunate that all designers do not see the validity of keeping these simple things in mind when designing sites. If I were looking for a designer, I would question prospective companies to find out if they followed these guidelines or instead, left out a huge portion of the population. Is it worth your while to put into practice these small changes?
To view our site designed for accessibility, go to www.pjayweb.com

The Web Content Accessibility Guidelines according to W3. For more information or greater detail go to

http://www.w3.org/TR/WCAG10/#Guidelines

Web Content Accessibility Guidelines

1. Provide equivalent alternatives to auditory and visual content.

Provide content that, when presented to the user, conveys essentially the same function or purpose as auditory or visual content.

2. Don’t rely on colour alone.

Ensure that text and graphics are understandable when viewed without colour.

3. Use markup and style sheets and do so properly.

Mark up documents with the proper structural elements. Control presentation with style sheets rather than with presentation elements and attributes.

4. Clarify natural language usage

Use markup that facilitates pronunciation or interpretation of abbreviated or foreign text.

5. Create tables that transform gracefully.

Ensure that tables have necessary markup to be transformed by accessible browsers and other user agents.

6. Ensure that pages featuring new technologies transform gracefully.

Ensure that pages are accessible even when newer technologies are not supported or are turned off.

7. Ensure user control of time-sensitive content changes.

Ensure that moving, blinking, scrolling, or auto-updating objects or pages may be paused or stopped.

8. Ensure direct accessibility of embedded user interfaces.

Ensure that the user interface follows principles of accessible design: device-independent access to functionality, keyboard operability, self-voicing, etc.

9. Design for device-independence.

Use features that enable activation of page elements via a variety of input devices.

10. Use interim solutions.

Use interim accessibility solutions so that assistive technologies and older browsers will operate correctly.

11. Use W3C technologies and guidelines.

Use W3C technologies (according to specification) and follow accessibility guidelines. Where it is not possible to use a W3C technology, or doing so results in material that does not transform gracefully, provide an alternative version of the content that is accessible.

12. Provide context and orientation information.

Provide context and orientation information to help users understand complex pages or elements.

13. Provide clear navigation mechanisms.

Provide clear and consistent navigation mechanisms — orientation information, navigation bars, a site map, etc. — to increase the likelihood that a person will find what they are looking for at a site.

14. Ensure that documents are clear and simple.

Ensure that documents are clear and simple so they may be more easily understood.

Internet Accessibility is an issue with growing validity for web designers and developers; as the average age of the population increases, the population of those with accessibility issues increases also.

“This issue is compounding because the world’s population is living longer with a disproportionate number of people soon to be elderly as compared with any other period in human history. The United Nations (UN) estimates that by 2050 one out of every five people will be over 60 years, and by 2150, one third of the people in the world are expected to be 60 years of age or older [UN 2007; UN 1998]. In Europe in the near future, it is estimated that the EU-25 countries will experience a demographic shift from 2000 when 15.7% of the population was over 64, to an estimated older population of 17.6% in 2010 and 20.7% in 2020 [EC 2007a].”

Andrew Arch (W3C). “Web Accessibility for Older Users: A Literature Review”.  http://www.w3.org/TR/2008/WD-wai-age-literature-20080514/
Accessed 11 Aug 2009.

Whilst many would consider the problem to be irrelevant, several recent court cases would suggest otherwise. In Australia and the UK there have been several instances of anti-discrimination lawsuits focused on the discrimination against disabled internet users and the breach of anti-discrimination laws. If this is the future of the internet, accessibility and usability should be a priority for all web designers and developers.

The older internet user is not necessarily one who has major disabilities, yet minor disabilities can also cause large accessibility problems. Vision decline, Hearing loss, Motor skill diminishment and Cognition effects are experienced by many older people in varying degrees. The causes of these are also varied so any one solution may not apply to all sections of the population, creating a need for basic accessibility standards across the entire internet.

The least aggressive seeming of these difficulties would be motor skills diminishment, this issue however, affects a large area of the population, with many diseases, age related or not, causing various issues with motor skills.

“Arthritis is a major cause of mobility issues for the elderly and Wikipedia [Wiki MSD] reports that arthritis is the leading cause of disability in people older than 55 years. The US-based Arthritis Foundation reports that 50% of Americans over 65 experience arthritis [Arthritis Foundation 2008] , while Arthritis Care in the UK report that 20% of all adults in the UK are affected [Arthritis Care 2007].”

Andrew Arch (W3C). “Web Accessibility for Older Users: A Literature Review”.  http://www.w3.org/TR/2008/WD-wai-age-literature-20080514/
Accessed 11 Aug 2009.

Problems with motor skills range from the mild, being difficulties in typing for long periods of time and accuracy with a mouse; to complete lack of motor function resulting in the complete inability to use any standard input hardware. Many companies, both large and small, have devised methods for increased usability for physically impaired people, aged or otherwise. Microsoft itself has developed both hardware and software for many years, including within ‘Windows Control Panel’ the facility to change the  ‘Accessibility Options’ of ‘Keyboard’, ‘Sound’, ‘Display’, and ‘Mouse’.

“A lot of the IT adaptations that disabled people need are already available in off-the-peg hardware and software. Accessibility is often just a matter of ensuring that particular features have not been turned off and helping users to set them up. For example, a feature such as sticky keys, which enables a user to press the Shift, Ctrl, Alt and Windows keys one at a time rather than all at once (to create a capital letter, for example), is great for people who lack the dexterity to press these commonly used keys together.
Many of the assistive aids disabled people need are very simple. For example, oversized keyboards for those with an uncertain touch; key guards to guide fingers onto keys; big switches the size of yo-yos to control software.”

http://www.microsoft.com/enable/default.aspx
Accessed 11 Aug 2009.

With the average age of our population increasing, it is imperative for the industry, that all designers of computer related equipment, hardware and software, take into consideration the difficulties faced at a basic level by large sections of the market.

With the average age of the population increasing, and the number of businesses and individuals dependant on the web, isn’t it worth your while to make your site accessible to everyone, regardless of ability?
There are a growing number of people with disabilities, impairments and problems with web use.
Is your web site able to deal with these people? Or will they click out of your site before they have had a chance to see what it is you have to offer?
Many accessibility issues are simple to deal with and require little in the way of extra design time.
There are some simple things that you can do to enable more users access to your site. I will begin on the general basics and work my way up to focus on the more specific issue of mobility and dexterity. There are many ways in which you can make your site user friendly, seeing it as an issue to begin with, is a huge step forward.