A lesson in Usability from The Onion

An amazing article from The Onion about older folks and the Internet. Reminds me of trying to teach my dad how to use Microsoft Word last time I was home...

Good thing to keep in mind in terms of usability when designing a Web site: Make it for this woman!

Getting Mom Onto Internet A Sisyphean Ordeal

JUNE 12, 2002 | ISSUE 38•22

ROCHESTER, MN—Karen Widmar, 33, who for the past two months has been trying to teach her 60-year-old mother how to use the Internet, called the endeavor "a Sisyphean ordeal" Monday.

"Jesus Christ, you have no idea," said Widmar after yet another unsuccessful lesson. "Every single thing I show her, no matter how simple, totally freaks her out. She's still afraid to click on pictures because she doesn't know where it's going to take her."

Widmar said she introduced her mother Lillian to the Internet at her request.

"It's funny, I was always trying to get her interested so I could e-mail her," Widmar said. "Then, one day, she called me up and said she was watching Today, and they had a guest on who made potatoes, and the recipe was online, and was that the same as the Internet? When I told her it was, she got really excited. Maybe I should've lied."

According to Widmar, the troubles began immediately.

"Trying to show her how to use the mouse took almost a week," Widmar said. "For some reason, she got it in her head that you had to hold the button down to make it move. Then, when I explained that the computer communicates over the telephone via her built-in modem, she kept asking where you hold the receiver. And she wouldn't stop calling the keyboard 'the typewriter.'"

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