In search of information on websites: A question of age?

Abstract

To fight against info-exclusion in an aging society, it is important to make website information available to all generations. If we want to achieve this goal we need to know the impact of not only age but also gender, educational background and frequency of internet use. Therefore, this paper presents the results of an explorative Dutch eye-tracking case study, which focuses on information search behaviour (navigation patterns and use of the search box, effectiveness, efficiency and user satisfaction). 29 younger and 29 older participants completed a search task on three websites. It was found that the greatest factor impacting on information search behaviour is not always age. In one case, heatmaps showed clearly that the navigation patterns of older participants using internet daily were quite similar to those of younger ones. Finally, I present some implications for organisations wanting to (re)design their own website. © 2011 Springer-Verlag.