Design Tip:
Appeal To Kids And Teens

by Larisa Thomason,
Senior Web Analyst,
NetMechanic, Inc.

There's no "single best way" to design a Web site. When you sit down to design your site, consider the abilities and preferences of your target audience. Select colors, navigation systems, and other page elements that will appeal to them.

Teens Like It Cool

Sites that cater to teen and young adult audiences must present themselves as the "cool place to be" on the Web. This generation is used to the sophisticated graphics and special effects of computer games, so you have to work to catch their attention. Indeed, you have to throw out some of the more conventional design "rules" to appeal to them.

• Neon colors rule. Is it painful to look at a bright orange and neon green Web site? Not if you're a teen. Bright colors, patterns, and bold pictures all attract teen consumers. You still need to coordinate your colors, but broaden your color choices.
  
  
• Sound it out. It's ok to include background sound on these sites, but be sure that it's currently popular. You may need to change your background music pretty often. But avoid becoming the next Napster: be sure you aren't violating anyone's copyright!
  
  
• Cutting-edge technology. Teen-oriented sites can generally contain more cutting-edge features than general interest sites because teens want the latest and greatest plug-ins. Unlike older adults, they aren't spooked by the idea of installing new software to view particular effects.
  
  
• Let them talk. Chat features and message boards will make your site sticky to teen visitors. Work to create a cool community that will keep them coming back for more.

Maybe this sounds like you're going to a lot of trouble just to create an ugly Web site, but remember that you're designing for a particular audience. It's a big audience with disposable income. According to the 2000 United States Census, the population of 39 million teens spends $158 billion per year. Their total population is expected to grow 20% faster than the general population.

Learn more about how teens use the Web.

Kids Just Want To Have Fun

Kids 8-12 are called "tweens" by marketers. Put more simply, most are teen wannabes. As many exasperated parents can tell you, tweens want to emulate the hot teen fashions, music, and language. Younger children are attracted by animation, cartoon figures, sounds, and other special effects on a page. For both groups, use bright colors and eye-catching graphics.

That sounds like the same advice we gave for teen sites, but children and teens do behave differently online. Noted Web usability expert, Jakob Neilsen, just completed an extensive study of how children use the Web, and he found some surprising behaviors:

• Kids read directions. Children are much more likely than adults to stop and read the directions on a Web site. Each page should contain a prominent "Help" or "How to use this site" type link and a good frequently asked questions page.
  
  
• Out of sight is out of mind. Most younger kids don't understand about page scrolling, so be sure that your most important site information is visible without scrolling. If kids can't see an element or link without scrolling the page, then they may never see it at all.
  
  
• They click on ad banners! This may sound like a good thing, but Neilsen found that children have a hard time distinguishing between advertisements and content. They see an ad banner with a cartoon character and assume that it's a game or coloring page. Screen your advertisers carefully to make sure that kids aren't leaving your site to view inappropriate content.
  
  
• Technology may be a problem. Like teens, kids love the cutting-edge graphics and animations, but they aren't as likely to have the technology to support those effects. Neilsen warns that:

  "Young children often have hand-me-down computers, whether at home … or at school… Kids also typically have slow connections and outdated software. Given these limitations, websites must avoid technical problems or crashes related to access by low-end equipment."

Children are a legitimate market for you - after all, they are the teen buyers of tomorrow. But remember that you are still dealing with children and be careful about the content and links you include on your site.

Learn more about how the United States population uses the Internet in the US Dept. of Commerce report "A Nation Online."

No matter which segment of the population you're targeting, or even if you're targeting everyone, your Web site has to work and look good in all browsers. Use NetMechanic's HTML Toolbox to check your HTML code for errors, browser-specific code, broken links, and more. Then let Browser Photo show you actual screen shots of your page from 16 different browser version and operating system combinations.

NetMechanic tools are an easy, cost-effective way to find and fix problems before errors drive visitors away from your site.