More and more children are using the internet, either for entertainment or as part of their school curriculum; as this audience base grows so does the need for well designed and usable sites that meet their needs. So what do web designers need to consider when building sites for children or young adults? The following design guidelines will provide some good tips to help get you started:
Clear navigation, content and links
Like adults research has found that children get confused by inconsistent navigation and design. By keeping the navigation simple, the links easy to understand and the content unambiguous children are better able to use and make their way through the site. For children in the 9–11 age bracket the font size plays an important role as younger children respond better to 14 point font as opposed to 12 for the older groups.
Add stimulating elements to the site
The attention span of young children tends to be short so their interest must be constantly engaged if you wish to keep them on your site. Interactive elements such as animation or sound are examples of tools that could be used for younger ages; whereas discussion boards, forums and other ‘sticky’ elements are great with teenagers as it grabs their attention and peaks their interest enough to return to the site.
Be careful with internet advertising
Jakob Nielsen’s research found that young children are not able to discern the difference between content and advertising and would click advertising without knowing what that involved. This unfortunately may not be able to be resolved completely with design and may need help from teachers and parents guiding children on the differences but where possible if advertising can be distinguished from content it should be.
These guidelines, although a good starting point, should not be the solely relied on for designing websites for children and young adults. Along with these, research and tests should be conducted to better understand the needs of your audience to ensure the website you build best serves their needs.