When I was a child and some adult people asked me the question: "What
would you like to be in the future?" I had no doubts: "Teacher". Well,
time goes, mind changes, and I'm here, as a beginner "Web Engineer"...
so, turning back to my first ideas I thought: how can I use my
profession with children?... and that's why I've started reading some
articles related to "Webs and children"...
I found,
along the articles, several interesting points around the Web and the
Children. I'll sort them in three groups: Children Behaviour, Elements
of the Web and Usability Test. This article is about the first one.
Children's Behaviour
Age
We are talking about
children between 3 and 12 year-old. In
this range, we can make three circles: 3 to 5, 6 to 8 and 9 to 12. We
have to remember that they are very conscious in relation with their
ages, I mean, one 7-year-old boy see a 5-year-old like a baby.
For example, National Geopraphic has two differents webs made for children:
National Geopraphic Kids and
National Geopraphic Little Kids.
Gender
Differences between gender are bigger and they have
different interests. Normally, not ever, boys will prefer superheros and
sports games, while the girls will prefer princesses, puppies or other
similar games. Girls are also more likely to read and look for
intructions.
Knowledge level
There are children with more knowledge than other
depending on their background or education. Moreover, we can't forget we
are in front of a "computer generation". Usually, children born with a
computer at home and they begin to use it as soon as they can hold the
mouse in their hands. In general, they find tasks like "Send to a
friend" or "Give your opinion about this book" quite difficult for them.
Interactivity
They can't be bored,
their ability to
keep attention is low, they need fun and enterteinment each moment.
Using animated characters, who speak and engage their
attention. You can include a game section, as well as have videos with mini-stories or other educational content; it can
be very useful. Apart from games and videos, other activities such as
puzzles, painting... are usually successful among the youngest. As the
child grow up, it begins to make more sense the possibility of have more
social applications: the youngest have a closed society, their family;
as time goes on, your social circle increase with your friends.
For example, if you visit Peppa Pig on her
website, they will laugh each time you click over them.
Personalize
In many cases, the possibility of make your own
avatar,
with which children can identify themselves, can be interesting. They
like the opposite extremes: good or bad. As younger is the child, as
more suitable is the use of pets or other proposed characters. As child
grow up, he would prefer have his own personality or see himself as a
popular character or cartoon.
Stimulating the senses
Using, as long as it's possible, bright and
cheerful colours. We also have to
keep a happy mood, we are working for children, they must be always happy.
Responsabilities
As we know and we can read in
Louis Lazaris' article: children can be easily affected by their environment, things they see or hear, they are mentally fragile. We have to be responsibles with our work and companies have to prove that they care about children. Promoting education is one of the possible ways, the games and activities we offer in our website must go in an educational way.
We have to remember that teachers, parents and other educational figures always care about the children, and they must take into consideration the different Internet’s dangers, so it will be useful if we include a “parents section”, with all the information they’ll need and another design more appropriate for them.
References
- Approaches to User Research When Designing for Children, Catalina Naranjo-Bock.
- Children’s Websites: Usability Issues in Designing for Kids,Jakob Nielsen.
- Designing Usable Sites for Children and Teens. Grace Bernhardt.
- Designing Websites for Kids: Trends and Best Practices, Louis Lazaris.
- Best Practices For Web Design For Kids, David Morrison
- Interaction Design and Children, Juan Pablo Hourcad.
- Diseño Web orientado a niños, Yusef Hassan Montero
- Diseño Web para niños, Jorge Serrano Cobos.
- Como usan los niños las páginas Web, Karina Ibarra y Anna Ripoll
- Designing Web Registration Forms for Kids, Debra Gelman, A List Apart
