Watched my dad struggle with a museum app last weekend

I was at the natural history museum in Denver and my dad couldn't zoom in on the exhibit text because the buttons were too tiny and close together. He's got fine motor issues from his hands shaking and just gave up on using it. Has anyone found a good minimum button size that works for older users without making the layout look clunky?

2 comments

2 Comments

schmidt.blake3d ago

Oh man, this is such a common thing and it drives me nuts how design ignores it. @faithrodriguez nailed it with the spacing issue, I see the same problem with my mom and her phone's keyboard, she'll try to type a text and hit three letters at once because everything's crammed together. It's not just museum apps either, think about microwave keypads or ATM screens, they jam all these tiny buttons close and wonder why anyone over 60 gets frustrated. Seems like designers forget that not everyone has laser precision thumbs, you gotta leave some breathing room.

faithrodriguez3d ago

My dad has the same problem with his hands shaking and yeah the button size thing is tricky... most apps these days aim for a minimum of 44-48 pixels but that still feels too small for someone with unsteady hands. Actually it's kind of wrong to say it's just about the button size though, the spacing between them matters just as much if not more. Even if the buttons are big enough, if they're packed too tight together his finger might hit two at once or miss entirely. Some museums have started adding a "simple mode" that scales everything up and spaces it out, maybe keep an eye out for that setting next time.