Age-Related Differences in the use of Hypertext: Experiment and Design Guidelines

Hypertext systems can be targeted for many different user populations, yet little experimental research has been done to provide design guidelines on how to match the system to the user. An experiment tested whether age relates to the dimensions of performance, navigation strategies and perceptions in use of a hypertext library card catalog. While adults were superior to children in speed and accuracy, there were no indications that the children were qualitatively different than the adults in navigation patterns or perceptions of the system. Some children exhibited more exploratory problem-solving behaviors that the adults. A number of design guidelines are offered, based on the empirical results.