In our previous studies, we observed a "usability gap" between younger and older users in their performance on various web sites, independent of web experience. Further, we found that design modifications made to address the specific web usability problems observed in older users improved performance of both older and younger users. The goal of the current study was to determine if we could design an interface that would specifically address the needs of older users and improve both their performance and overall user experience.

We incorporated visual and audio help into the interface of a prototype financial services site. Help (elicited on mouse over) was added to all links and some additional web page components, and provided detailed information regarding the destination content for each link. Sixty-nine users from four age groups (20 to 34, 35 to 49, 50 to 64, and 65 and older) were assigned to either the help condition (interface with help) or control condition (interface without help) and completed 16 typical tasks on the prototype.

Overall task performance was calculated and the effect of help was measured both within and between age groups. Subjective reactions were also collected. The presence of help had no effect on the performance of younger users, but it did improve the performance of older users and those with lower financial expertise. Subjective reactions to help were uniformly positive across age groups.

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