Frustrated gmail user
Saturday, November 21st, 2009
Los Angeles, California. My 94 year old mother is having a rough time moving a mouse, knowing which buttons to push to navigate gmail, and finding those buttons if/when she knows what they are.
I’m not entirely sure a bigger screen will help but she’s insistent it’s google’s poor design, not the fact that she’s got partial sight out of her weak eye and crappy sight out of the good one. She can’t hear the audio feedback either.
I do think there might be a market for a very simple gmail client (not web based) built for the geriatric set. The top of the UI list would be to make the FORWARD button the largest feature on the screen. My mother would be thrilled, me less so.
what about http://mailplaneapp.com/ or mail?
I tried those for a while David… she needs a much simpler UI with larger buttons. I think she’s almost done with computers, I’m sorry to say.
Richard – ran into the same problem with an elderly friend – and to tell the truth, google g-mail is much too busy a program, even for me. Too many visuals, sensory overload. How about setting her up with the built in Mac mail program, make the onscreen viewing field as large as possible and give her (write it down in large letters) a cheat sheet of simple instructions on navigating the program. I.e. “compose – send – forward. Presumably, her contacts are in the address book? Also, aren’t there very large lettered keyboards available now for seniors?
Maybe I’m thinking of phones. Well, best of luck. Karin