Child Usability and Web Tools

Everyone knows that children are big users of the web. But not so many know how they use it.

Web designers often make the assumption that children are 'web experts.' They're not. Digital culture is familiar to them and influences their lives greatly (see digital natives), but kids don't always have a context for such information, and will second-guess rather than use logic to work their way out of problems on a site.

When we build sites we build them with children in mind, from the way they interpret a URL to the exit routes they take. That may mean watching them using one specific part, testing within a multi-user environment, listening to what they're saying to one another or noting their decisions and spotting their mistakes in order to make the user experience better.

We work behind the scenes, too, and are currently developing an unique Childrens' Content Management System which makes it easy for young contributors to update their own sites, manage media and publish and edit their own pages. To sum it up: when Paperhorse builds you a children's site, kids are part of it from the ground up.

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