For the mother to do the user interface, you need to know the 6 key points

The writer, Tony Gines, works as a creative director at ifixit, a website that publishes guidelines for electronic product repair and dismantling.

Mothers of this generation, they often fumble on the internet, a variety of registration forums, hidden gestures and confusing interface often let them do not know what to do, although they want to find out. As designers and developers, it is not enough to make the website look good, we have the obligation for the mother of the generation of users to consider, as far as possible to improve their use experience. So every time I design a Web or user interface, I always focus on a few things because I think of my mother:

She uses a different browser than we do.

She prefers to use IE8 because she is familiar with it. But because she was subconsciously afraid to spoil the browser, she didn't have the confidence to update the version or plugin. And when she thinks the experience is bad, she only complains about web design, not the browser itself. Remember, your users are basically cross-browser, and be sure to focus on the browser-compatible usage experience.

She doesn't understand the features of most websites.

She uses Facebook but is not sure how to use the sharing function properly, we should let users feel at ease, using intuitive picture clues and instructions to guide users how to complete each action, to ensure their confidence in the use of features.

She can't read the icons.

My mother used floppy disks a few years ago, but now she has forgotten their role. Now many interfaces use only icons instead of "new", "Copy, delete, and so on, the icon can guarantee the size of an interface, you do not have to worry about a button because of the text inside the very large, but it is better to add a descriptive label next to tell the user X icon will cause Y action.

She is not an advanced user.

I don't know how many times I told my mother about the use of CTRL + C and CTRL + V, but she never did. Her iphone is just for texting, calling and sending emails, and voicemail is like: "Hello, I can't answer your phone right now." Please leave your name and number, I will reply you when I am free. "She doesn't even know the phone can store a phone number. The features of advanced users are very handy, but it's better to have advanced user guidance, and they need the guidance to learn how to use them.

She doesn't mind clicking on it all the time.

There is a saying that the higher the click Frequency equals the worse the user experience, the more I have been ignoring that statement. I think I'm an efficient user, but I never complain that a site needs to be clicked too many times to complete an action. Good design does not mean less design, but simple design.

She just wants to do her own thing and hope to keep up with the rhythm of the world.

My mother used the Internet to do only three things, pay bills, watch Netflix videos and keep in touch with children. When Facebook was revised, it took her a long time to get used to the new interface to remember which buttons were changed. She used the online banking is very good, 7 years time on the IE8 on the operation of the habit has not changed. If you want to update or redesign a website that has a lot of loyal users, consider which menu buttons have to be changed and try to keep them as they are.

My mother is not stupid, on the contrary I always think she is a very smart woman, and more importantly, she wants to be our daily creation of a new thing, she wants to participate in it, I believe that there are millions of mothers in the world. It is incumbent upon us to make the interface design understandable to them, because it is they who will stand here and try to create miracles.