1

Regarding using more concrete language, this is something nearly every form on the web can benefit from. Rather than simply saying “submit,” the button should be more descriptive as to what is actually being done. Is this the final step in the process, or are there more steps to follow?

And I’ve often wondered about which terminology to use when labeling form fields (me/my/you/your), and this line of thought about perspective is very helpful. Thanks!

posted at 08:45 am on February 8, 2011 by brochris

2

You touched on being patronizing and so on, but then expressed that taking a tour was a good idea.

Just like adults get bored being walked through stuff they perceive themselves to already know, I’ve encountered kids getting bored 5 seconds into a tour of the site. If needed, it better be precisely as engaging as the actual site.

Else, just avoid required steps, and let the kids get to the play or “work” as quickly as possible.

(Games are a good place to look for best practices. Watch some kids set up their Miis — Wii Avatars. It’s an example of setup being at least as engaging as “actual” gameplay).

posted at 10:04 am on February 8, 2011 by shoobe01

4 A little love for the littles. Bravo.

At the risk of sounding pedantic and picky, I just want to point out that, in the context in which they are used in the final matrix, the phrases should be “sign up” and “sign in” without the hyphens. I know, I know, but as long as we’re choosing better language, let’s also punctuate better.

That said, I loved this article. Loved reading an article about designing for children on ALA—a nice change of pace. Really sound advice, loved the actual comments made by kids. Thank you for writing this, and thanks, ALA, for publishing it.

posted at 12:03 pm on February 8, 2011 by Lily and the Lion

5

Liked the ‘wording options’ chart; as has been mentioned above, ‘Submit’ is rarely a meaningful call to action from an end-user perpective.

Nice article!

posted at 12:22 pm on February 8, 2011 by James Parry

6

I’m working on a children’s online game for a project at university. One thing I’ve been struggling with is how to provide log in functionality without requesting any personal details such as an email address. I found this article very helpful. Thank you!

posted at 12:29 pm on February 8, 2011 by claireanthony

8

Thanks for the article Debra!

One thing that I’ve learned about kids website, since I started working on one about 1 year ago, is that the gap btw ages is so much bigger than us grown ups. We want to be “kids” and kids want to be grown ups.

The gap btw a 9 year-old and 10 year-old is huge. Most 10 year-old want to be teens where 9 year-old just want to be 10. When I first designed our website (a social network for kids), I tried to make it fun (playful colors, characters and so on). Than we got tons of comments saying “The site is too babyish”. About 4 months ago I redesign it to look more like a teenager site. The user comments were positive and they felt more mature. To conclude my point, it’s very hard to design for kids of every age and sex. Anyone trying to design something for kids, I would advise to narrow down the age and gender as much as possible.

Rodrigo

posted at 03:16 pm on February 8, 2011 by rodi01

10

Thanks for this! I’ve taught my 7-year-old not to ever register for anything online unless I a) know about it and b) help him do it, so when he registered on Lego.com he grabbed me immediately and I did it for him – no idea how much of the process he absorbed.

That said, I think there’s much in this article that can be applied to web forms in general, particularly when your user base is diverse (as mine is; I work for a credit union) and may have varying degrees of web savvy.

posted at 04:35 pm on February 8, 2011 by nora516