A Child’s Computer Experience Differs from an Adult

Children, when it comes to computers, are not little adults. There are some striking differences in how they explore websites. Keep this in mind when you are monitoring your child’s play.

Here are some of the differences: 

• Animation and sound effects are positive design elements for children.  They create a good first impression that encourages a child to stay and play. In Cackleberries’ Oville it also encourages them to stay and learn.
• Children are willing to "mine-sweep," scrubbing the screen with the mouse either to find clickable areas or simply to enjoy the sound effects that different screen elements played.
• Geographic navigation emulating the real world works best for younger children.  They understand a door opens to enter a room and a bridge crosses a stream. There is no natural element on earth that emulates a drop down menu and hence is an unfamiliar thing for first time users.
• Children rarely scroll pages and mainly interact with information that was visible above the fold or on the screen. Subscreens need to have a logical progression from the main screen to induce the child to move on.

We built Oville with these elements in mind to assure your child's first computer experience is a good one and they can more easily gain valuable computer skills.