

Google targets elderly? - evilslut82

Google increased font size on search box? Why?
======
est
See [http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2009/09/now-s-u-p-e-r-
sized.h...](http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2009/09/now-s-u-p-e-r-sized.html)

A little (maybe) inside story here

Believe it or not, I guess Google globally adjusted it's box height _after_
Google China added 6px to its search box height.

On 13th April this year there's a post on a extremely popular & influential IT
commentary news site in China

<http://www.cnbeta.com/articles/81765.htm>

saying that Google.cn failed to match Baidu.com because their search box is so
small that people need exta time to move the mouse to focus the correct text
box

6 days later Google.cn improved one of their page(specifically
<http://www.google.cn/hp?sp=china>) accordingly

<http://www.cnbeta.com/articles/82222.htm>

Next on 6th October Google.cn switched to bigger search box on all of their
pages, including the google.cn home page

[http://google.org.cn/posts/google-china-bigger-search-
box.ht...](http://google.org.cn/posts/google-china-bigger-search-box.html)

Finally on 10th September Google globally adopted this design change

<http://cnbeta.com/articles/93034.htm>

Coincidences?

------
DanielStraight
They should increase it even more. It's not just elderly people who have poor
eyesight or don't like straining to read things on a computer screen. Even if
they made it 18pt, how much of your screen would it really occupy? Not much,
and the usability benefits are huge. I seriously will leave websites for using
small fonts. If I click a HN link and the font size seems below 10pt, I'll
probably just leave. I've seen websites linked on here with fonts around 6 or
7pt. That's insane. No one can read that as comfortably as they could at 12pt.

------
evilslut82
hmm interesting links guys, thanks! reading up now.

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zeynel1
For elderly users increasing the font size is not much help. The problem is
with focus. The lens hardens with age and nearby objects appear out of focus.
So 12pt and 24pt type will both be out focus:

[http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=why-does-
ey...](http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=why-does-eyesight-
deterio)

"When the lens loses its pliability it also loses its ability to focus over a
wide range of distances. A hardened lens becomes more fixed on distant objects
and cannot focus as well on nearby objects or vice versa."

~~~
ggchappell
You are correct about the hardened lens. But consider: if you can't read
things up close, then you read things at a distance, and small fonts are
difficult to read at a distance.

So, yes, larger fonts will help.

By the way, I'm speaking from experience here. I'm 43, which I don't think is
quite "elderly", but presbyopia has hit me pretty hard in the past year. My
eyes are still better than 20/20, but I now need reading glasses for up-close
work. Without my glasses, small fonts can be a problem.

~~~
zeynel1
Yes, you are right. I wish there was a chart showing how this effect works.
Also the eye may get used to a design. I used to think that HN font was too
small and line spacing too thight but now it looks normal to me.

