News
Larger screen targets help make silver surfing easier
4 July 2008
Computers are used by people of all ages. For some people, though,
difficulties with mouse and cursor control can make it difficult to use
a computer easily and effectively. It is a problem for older people in
particular.
New research has looked at whether various techniques which have been
developed to help with "point and click" activities do improve mouse and
cursor control in older and younger people.
The research found that targets that expanded to a larger size,
giving the user a larger area to click on, meant that users completed
tasks faster and made fewer mistakes. Previous studies of techniques to
aid target selection have shown the benefits for younger users, but the
performance of older people using these techniques has not been fully
investigated.
The research was presented at a workshop on Technologies for Health,
Rehabilitation and Self Management of Long Term Conditions hosted by
Bath University on 30 June 2008.
Dr Faustina Hwang from the University of Reading said, "Our findings
show that expanding targets may help to make computers easier for older
people to use. Compared with younger users, older people experience
greater difficulties positioning the cursor on the computer screen, take
longer making selections and homing-in on a target, and make more
mistakes when selecting targets. These difficulties can present a
significant limitation to using a computer easily and effectively.
Target selection is such an important and frequent task, so any
improvements that we can make will have a big impact on overall computer
use.
"Computers are an excellent way of tackling social isolation, which
can become a problem as we get older. We hope that by making the basic
tasks involved in computer use quicker and easier, more people will be
able to take advantage of the benefits that computers can offer; for
example, keeping in touch with family and friends, accessing information
about healthcare and community services, or booking air and train
tickets."
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