Development of a Usable and Accessible Interface for the Cognitively Impaired Aged

The aged often have difficulty in using the computer in order to facilitate their day to day activities. A lot of designers sacrifice usability and accessibility for fashionable design, hence resulting in poorly designed interfaces. It was found that most of the existing interfaces do not comply with the standards set forth by W3C and that older adults are not often included in usability studies of web design. This paper focuses on the development of interface that will enhance the user experience of the aged (65years and above) who suffers from cognitive impairment. It also compared the degree of efficiency of the interface with the existing interface. The methodology employed included the involvement of users throughout the process. A focus group of 5 elderly persons were selected based on their response in an interview conducted and questionnaires administered at a reputable geriatric centre in Nigeria. The system was designed and implemented using PHP, mySQL and HTML. Concepts of World Wide Web Consortium (W3C), a global centre for web usability design standard and Web Content Accessibility Guide (WACG) were employed. The system was tested and evaluated by collecting the performance measures: time taken for successful task in seconds and number of errors. Then, questionnaires were administered and mean results were obtained. The results showed that the system developed had the mean time taken for successful task to be 42sec and the mean number of errors due to manipulation to be 1.22.Also, based on the mean results by questionnaire, the system was successful for the aged who are cognitively impaired.