中高齡者電子郵件介面之使用性研究

The Usability Study of E-mail Interfaces on Middle Aged and Elderly

劉芸如(Yun-Ju Liu)

指導教授 ： 黃啟梧

國立臺北科技大學/設計學院/創新設計研究所/碩士(2012年)

摘要

近年來，台灣高齡化人口的快速成長備受重視，高齡族群已被視為一個強大消費力的潛在市場，尤其對於網路商機，未來預估銀髮族會是一個不可忽視的新勢力。但是，儘管現代社會資訊發達，相關技術以及研究不斷累積，但是針對於中高齡者網頁的研究與應用卻仍是相當的不足：隨著年齡的增長，高齡者必然會面對生理退化的問題，記憶力、訊息處理能力的衰退讓他們無法執行太複雜的操作，同時，會因為視覺感知轉變，在使用網路時造成閱讀的困難。
本研究將藉由使用性測試，以現有的web電子郵件系統為實驗樣本，規劃典型任務並進行操作任務實驗，以了解中高齡者平時在使用電子郵件會遇到的困難與需求。搭配文獻以及實驗所獲得之資訊，設計規劃電子郵件介面進行觀察結果的驗證。最後提出適合中高齡者電子郵件介面之設計原則。
研究結果發現，中高齡者在進行電子郵件操作時遭遇諸多困難，主要有字體大小用色不當、按鍵連結位置不佳、功能混淆、提示不明顯、格式輸入不符合使用者需求等問題，造成錯誤次數偏高，顯示現有電子郵件介面仍有改善的空間。
最後本研究依據改良介面的實驗結果，提出設計原則如下1. 加強字體易讀性。2. 讓畫面調整到不需要使用卷軸。3. 使功能鍵不被遮蔽。4. 增加功能的識別性。5. 適當的提供訊息回饋或是操作捷徑。

關鍵字

中高齡者 ； 電子郵件 ； 介面設計 ； 使用性

並列摘要

As the rapid growth in senior population of Taiwan began to attract increasing attention in recent years, middle-elder and senior groups have been considered a potential market of great purchasing power. It is estimated that middle-elder and seniors will be a new force that cannot be overlooked in network opportunities. However, despite relevant and cumulative research on advanced information technologies in modern society, research on the application of webpages among middle-elder and seniors are still insufficient. With advancing age, middle-elder and seniors will inevitably face physiological problems of degradation in memory and information processing abilities, which in turn hinders them from performing operations too complex. Meanwhile, due to Changes in visual perception, middle-elder and seniors will usually suffer from reading difficulties when surfing the Internet.
Through usability testing, this study takes the existing web e-mail systems for experimental samples, typical task planning and task experiment performance in order to understand the difficulties and needs of middle-elders and seniors in the use of e-mail. With information obtained from literature review and experiments, this study designs an e-mail interface for observation results verification. Finally, this study proposes design principles of e-mail interface settings desirable for middle-elders.
Research results conclude that the reasons why middle-elders and seniors encounter many difficulties in typical operations are mainly because of improper font size and font color, poor link locations, confusing functions, obscure hints, format inputs, and so on. All of those reasons result in the high number of errors, which shows room for improvement in the existing e-mail interface.
Finally, this study proposes the design principles based on the experimental results of the improved interface as follows:
(1) Strengthen the font legibility.
(2) Adjust the screen and eliminate the need for the scroll bar.
(3) Disclose the function keys.
(4) Improve the identifiability of the functions.
(5) Provide appropriate feedback or operational shortcut.

並列關鍵字

Middle-aged and senior ； E-mail ； Interface design ； Usability

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