A lot of my clients serve communities where plenty of people did not grow up with the internet – and plenty more are simply over sixty, as much of Rhode Island and Massachusetts is. So when I say I build modern websites, I mean modern in a specific way: modern like a well-designed kitchen, not modern like a nightclub.

Hard for a 75-year-old means hard for everyone

Here is the secret of designing for older visitors: there is no separate “senior-friendly design.” There is just good design, honestly applied. Text big enough to read without leaning in. Buttons that look like buttons. Pages that hold still. Everyone prefers this – younger visitors included. The 75-year-old is simply the honest test.

What it looks like in practice

• Text you can actually read. Comfortable sizes, real contrast between the words and the background, lines that are not too long. If anyone has ever zoomed your site to read it, the site failed, not the reader.
• Buttons that say what they do. “Get the newsletter,” not “Submit.” “Donate,” visible without hunting. One clear next step per page, not seven competing ones.
• Nothing that moves without permission. Sliding banners, typing animations, things that swoop in as you scroll – these read as lively to designers and as alarming to everyone else. Calm pages feel trustworthy. Trust is the whole game for a non-profit.
• Forgiving forms. Few fields, clearly labeled, with error messages that say what to fix instead of turning red and sulking.
• Phones and tablets, truly. Not “technically loads on a phone” – genuinely comfortable on one, since for many visitors the phone is the only computer.

This is also just kindness

Beyond building websites, I spend time helping individuals – often seniors – with the digital side of life, patiently and in plain language. That work keeps me honest. When you have sat at a kitchen table watching a real person meet a real website, you stop designing for other designers. You design for the person at the table.

If your organization serves everyone, your website should too. If you suspect yours does not, I will take a look – and I promise to explain what I find in words a human would use.