By Matthew Palmer
MySeniors.com is just another average, non-descript web site. It
chose
one of the most average and ordinary themes to use: a portal site.
It
has a few, standard categories, like a severely scaled down Yahoo!
The
sites it lists are simply the most commonly thought of locations.
Worst
of all, without the name "MySeniors.com" and the few pictures
of senior
citizens, I wouldn't be able to tell this site apart from the other
mini-portal sites. The categories and links it offers are not tailored
to senior citizens. It also doesn't try to be complete in the range
of
sites it highlights, or give any sense that it is being updated.
There is one possible reason for the design of MySeniors.com. It
could
be used beneficially if a senior citizen who was relativity unfamiliar
with the web visited the site to get a quick list of some of the most
popular sites. After a little while, they would become familiar with
those sites and outgrow MySeniors.com, which is a problem for the
site.
Even though it may be used by any age group, the designers may have
chosen to call it "MySeniors.com" to make seniors notice
it and feel
that the site is just for them. It is also a better name than some
of
the alternatives, which focus on how the user is inexperienced with
technology.
MySeniors.com is mostly an accessible site for senior citizens. The
font is large and the buttons are clearly marked. Scrolling, which
may
be difficult for people who find the mouse difficult to operate, is
keep
to a minimum (mostly by minimizing the content). These qualities are
not specific to senior citizens, but are generally accepted traits
of
good web site design.
Making MySeniors.com a simple, easy-to-use launch point for seniors
is a
valid design choice. However, the site fails because it stops there.
The lists do not appear to be updated, nor does the site seem to have
aspirations to grow. If its aim to help seniors, the site might want
to
have a short tutorial on Internet use, or at least describe the sites
to
which they link. Without such features, I would not be surprised if
most seniors find themselves skipping over the little sites like
MySeniors.com and going instead to a more complete portal site.