Large Print Graphics for Older Eyes?

random_nickname asks: "My lovely wife is a Graphic Designer with a small company which specializes in custom-made wine labels. She is re-designing the current site, to bring the code up-to-date and a little more shnazzy. Her boss is insisting that, due to their primary market - the elderly - she needs to create overly 'large-print' graphics, to make the site easier to browse for that demographic. My wife feels that this is unnecessary due to resolution control and monitor sizes, etc.. Are there sites out there that currently employ over-sized graphics for the elderly and has it made a difference in business? Is there a real need for this kind of solution?"

Comments

Re:Use CSS fonts, but don't specify points/pixels

[Tuxinatorium]

You forget that 80% of computer users (and 99% of elderly computer users) don't even know how to change the text size in their browser. Hell, a lot of them don't even know how to set their homepage.

Cardinal rule of commercial website design:
Don't assume the users know jack shit, because the majority of them won't.

Re:The real solution

[Oddly_Drac]

"more graphics-oriented"

&

"enable text2voice software"

Idiot. The first thing to do is check out the available options for visually impaired users. Turn on the text to voice and check out a webpage for a real eyeopener in how difficult this market is to design for. Simulate visual impairment by sitting a way from the screen, and check that demographic directly by checking for the browsers that people use. If you have screen readers in there, consider switching stylesheets for them. View the site in Netscape 4.75 for that real primitive viewpoint of what the site will look like to a more basic piece of software and move away from tabling code.

Visit CSS Zengarden. Play with the stylesheets. Now go back and look at it in Netscape 4.75. Isn't that elegant?