Making Reading from a Tablet Computer Easier for Older People in
Thailand and the UK: Effects of Text and Background Colours
Maneerut Chatrangsan
1,2
and Helen Petrie
1
1
Department of Computer Science, University of York, Deramore Lane, York, U.K.
2
Faculty of Business Economics and Communications, Naresuan University, Thailand
Keywords: Digital Text, Tablet Computer, Text Colours, Background Colours, Older Readers, Younger Readers.
Abstract: This study investigated the effects of text and background colour on tablet computers on reading performance
and preferences for older and younger readers from two countries, Thailand and the UK. In the UK, 30 older
(65 to 85 years) and 30 younger (18 to 23 years) participants took part; in Thailand 20 older (60 to 71 years)
and 20 younger (20 to 23 years) participants. Participants skim read texts on a tablet computer presented in
five combination of text and background colours (black text on white background, white on black, black on
buff, sepia on buff and black on light blue) and answered multiple-choice questions about each text. Reading
time and comprehension were measured and preferences for text/background colour combinations. Older
participants in both countries took significantly longer to read the texts than younger participants and in
Thailand older participants answered significantly fewer questions correctly than younger participants.
However, the colour combinations had no significant effects on performance measures. On preferences for
colour combinations, only the younger UK participants expressed significant trends, preferring and black/buff
and black/light blue. Further research with larger samples of participants is needed to determine whether there
are any clear preferences for text/background colour combinations in each country. In the meantime, black
text on a pale background, either white, buff or pale blue can be recommended for presenting text on tablets
to both older and younger readers in both countries.
1 INTRODUCTION
With the explosion of personal ICT devices, more and
more information and services are being provided
online. For example, in the United Kingdom (UK),
the National Health Service (NHS) now provides an
extensive website with information about medical
conditions and medicines, where to access different
services and even an online medical advice service
(www.nhs.uk has over 500 pages of information).
Similar services exist in many other countries.
Increasingly this medium for providing information
and services is the norm, with other channels such as
paper leaflets, telephone helplines and face-to-face
advice, becoming rarer.
Being able to access such information,
particularly health and medical information, is very
important for older people. However, to do so they
need to be comfortable with the ICT devices and able
to easily read the information provided. Older people
are rapidly becoming more comfortable with using
the Internet. For example, for the 65 to 74 age group
in the UK, Internet usage increased from 52% in 2011
to 80% in 2018 (Office for National Statistics,
2018b). Although Internet usage by older people may
be lower in less developed countries, it is also
increasing. In Thailand, Internet usage by people
aged 50 and over increased from 6.2% in 2012 to
13.8% in 2016. In both countries older people are also
now more likely to access the Internet using portable
devices (i.e. smartphones, tablet computers) than by
desktop computers. For example, in the UK, tablets
are now the most popular device for accessing the
Internet for people over 65 (Office for National
Statistics, 2018a) Older people in Thailand are also
more likely to access the internet using a mobile
device (Electronic Transactions Development
Agency, 2015; 2016).
However, little is known about how to best
present text for older people to read it most easily on
tablets. Some research has shown that older people do
have some problems when using tablets, but little
research has investigated how best to present text on
tablets for older users. Therefore the research
238
Chatrangsan, M. and Petrie, H.
Making Reading from a Tablet Computer Easier for Older People in Thailand and the UK: Effects of Text and Background Colours.
DOI: 10.5220/0007737802380246
In Proceedings of the 5th International Conference on Information and Communication Technologies for Ageing Well and e-Health (ICT4AWE 2019), pages 238-246
ISBN: 978-989-758-368-1
Copyright
c
2019 by SCITEPRESS – Science and Technology Publications, Lda. All rights reserved
presented in this paper investigated one aspect of the
presentation of text on tablets for older users, that of
the colour of text and background. As the effects of
these variables may vary between languages using
different orthographic systems and between user
groups with different levels of experience with
tablets, we conducted the research in two countries,
Thailand and the UK.
2 RELATED WORK
There is a small body of research on older users’
attitudes and performance with tablets from a range
of countries. Jayroe and Wolfram (2012) compared
interaction with an iPad tablet and a desktop
computer for older Americans (67 to 87 years).
Participants were interviewed after undertaking tasks
on the Web such as finding a weather forecast and
looking for information about glaucoma. Participants
reported being more comfortable using the tablet than
a desktop computer due to its portability, efficiency,
ease of use and speed. However, participants
encountered a number of problems, particularly with
the iPad onscreen keyboard.
Werner et al. (2012) evaluated the usability and
acceptance of an iPad for Austrians aged over 60
years (mean age 71). As in the Jayroe & Wolfram
study, participants were asked to perform a number of
tasks (only with an iPad), including a medical
information task and were interviewed. All
participants reported that the tablet was very easy to
use, although only half would choose a tablet over a
desktop computer. However, a number of problems
were encountered, particularly with gesture controls
such as the “pincer” movement for zooming in or out.
Barnard et al. (2013) studied the first use of tablets
by older people in the UK (58 to 78 years).
Participants undertook simple tasks such as sending
an email and some encountered problems. For
instance, the labelling of some controls was too small
and the correct timing and right pressure of taps on
the screen was difficult to achieve.
Findlater et al. (2013) compared the performance
of older (61 to 86 years) and younger (19 to 51 years)
American participants on typical actions (pointing,
dragging, crossing and steering) on an iPad and
desktop computer. Older participants were slower on
both devices, but the performance gap, on both speed
and errors, was smaller on the tablet. Older
participants also rated the tablet as easier to use.
Chatrangsan and Petrie (2017) investigated the
usability and acceptability of tablet for older
participants in the UK (65 years and over) and in
Thailand (60 years and over). Participants undertook
two tasks with different websites on a tablet while
producing a verbal protocol and were then
interviewed. All participants were able to complete
the tasks and had positive attitudes about using
tablets. Some participants reported that they thought
a tablet is easier, faster and also more convenient to
use than a desktop computer. However, a number of
problems were encountered such as text being too
small and colour contrast between text and
background being not sufficiently clear.
These studies show that while older people are
generally positive about tablets, they do encounter a
range of usability problems that clearly relate to their
age: gesture control that requires good timing and
pressure control, small labels and text, and
insufficient colour contrast in labels and text.
Only three recent studies could be found that have
investigated the issue of colour contrast in digital
presentations for older users, although not necessarily
in relation to tablet devices and two of those studies
did not use a reading task. One source of information
about colour combinations for digital presentations is
guidelines about web design for older people.
Numerous sets of guidelines have been developed,
but they are now outdated as their recommendations
probably relate to desktop computers whose screens
lacked the colour palettes and fine resolution of
current tablet screens.
Nine sets of such guidelines made
recommendations on text and background colour
(AARP, 2004; Agelight; 2001; Holt, 2000;
NIA/NLM, 2002; SPRY, 1999; SilverWeb –
Kurniawan and Zaphiris, 2005, Zaphiris et al. 2007,
2009; Webcredible, 2006; Zhao, 2001). Six sets of
guidelines recommend using dark text on a light
background (Agelight, Holt, NIA/NLM, SPRY,
Webcredible, Zhao). Two sets of guidelines also
mention that “reverse contrast” can be used, a light
text on a dark background (Holt, NIA/NLM). Two set
of guidelines mention only that strong contrast
between text and background should be used (ARRP,
SilverWeb). Two sets of guidelines also mention that
off-white rather than pure white is a better
background (SilverWeb, Webcredible). Kurniawan
and Zaphiris (2005, see also Zaphiris et al., 2007,
2009) also made more detailed recommendations,
proposing four guidelines including that blue and
green tones should be avoided; background screens
should not be pure white or change rapidly in
brightness; and there should be high contrast between
foreground and background, for example, coloured
text on coloured backgrounds should be avoided.
Making Reading from a Tablet Computer Easier for Older People in Thailand and the UK: Effects of Text and Background Colours
239
A more recent set of guidelines has been produced
by Loureiro and Rodrigues (2014) in this case for
older users using multi-touch interfaces. They
recommended that blue and yellow or red and green
tones should be avoided and that high contrast
between interface elements should be used.
Returning to the recent studies empirically
investigating colour combinations, Huang et al.
(2013) investigated the effect of colour for Chinese
text displayed on an iPad with younger (20 to 30
years) and older (over 60 years) Taiwanese
participants. The participants did not read the texts
but made forced choice comparisons between two
layouts with different text/background colours.
Interestingly, the experiment took place in a dark
room with only the light from the iPad, not a typical
reading situation. In a first experiment, the text and
background colours were presented in greyscale
combinations from black to white. The older
participants preferred stronger contrast combinations,
while the younger participants preferred medium
contrast. In a second experiment, text was presented
in black, medium grey or white with a wide range of
colours as background. Again, the older participants
preferred strong contrast combinations while the
younger participants preferred medium contrast.
Kamollimsakul (2014) investigated the effect of
text and background colour on skim reading
webpages from a laptop for younger and older
participants in Thailand (19 to 29 years and 59 to 70
years) and in the UK (18 to 36 years and 66 to 79
years). Colours combinations were black text on
white background, white on black, and sepia on off-
white. Colour had no effect on either younger and
older participants in either country on performance,
however older participants preferred black on white
and younger participants preferred that combination
or sepia on off-white. Both groups liked white on
black the least.
Yamazaki and Eto (2015) conducted an
experiment on different background colours on tablet
screens with Japanese participants over 65 years.
Rather than reading, participants performed a circle
counting task on a tablet with a white, blue and light
blue background with the circle presented in black.
The mean number of correct answers was higher with
blue and light blue. Participants felt they were able to
concentrate better and were least tired when counting
black circles on a light blue background colour.
Given the sparse research on the effects of text
and background colour combinations on reading from
tablets for older people, this study investigated the
effect of text and background colour on reading
performance and preferences computer for both
younger and older people in Thailand and the United
Kingdom.
3 METHOD
3.1 Design
The study was undertaken in both Thailand and the
United Kingdom. Data from each country was
statistically analysed separately as the typefaces used
in the two countries were not exactly the same (see
section 3.3) and the readability of the texts may not
be exactly the same in English and Thai (see section
5), although comparisons between the countries will
be made. In each case, a Latin Square mixed
experimental design was used with one key between
participants variable and one key within participants
variable. The between participants variable was Age
Group (younger and older people). The within
participants variable was Colour Combination (Black
text on White background, White on Black, Black on
Buff, Sepia on Buff and Black on Light Blue). The
choice of combinations was made on the basis of two
factors: that there be good contrast between text and
background; and the colour combinations had been
previously recommended or researched for older
participants. Three dependent variables were
measured: reading time (in seconds), the number of
correct answers on comprehension questions and
participants’ preferred colour combination.
Each participant was asked to skim read five short
texts presented on a tablet, one with each combination
of text and background colours. The order of
presentation of the texts and the colour combination
were counterbalanced to avoid practice and fatigue
effects. Skim reading was chosen as the task, as this
is commonly what people do on websites and
previous research has found this less tiring in
experiments for older participants (Kamollimsakul,
2014).
3.2 Participants
100 participants took part in the study, 40 in Thailand
and 60 in the UK. In Thailand, there were 20 older
and 20 younger participants, all native Thai speakers.
The older participants consisted of 5 men and 15
women, their ages range from 60 to 71 years (mean:
64.9 years). The younger participants consisted of 7
men and 13 women, their age ranged from 20 to 23
years (mean: 21.7 years). No participant had any
colour vision deficiency problems.
ICT4AWE 2019 - 5th International Conference on Information and Communication Technologies for Ageing Well and e-Health
240
In the UK, there were 30 older and 30 younger
participants, all native English speakers. The older
participants consisted of 13 men and 17 women, their
ages ranged from 65 to 85 years (Mean: 71.2 years).
The younger participants consisted of 13 men and 17
women, their ages ranged from 18 to 23 years (mean:
19.7 years). Two of the younger participants had mild
red-green colour vision deficiency (this would not
affect their perception of any of the colour
combinations in the study).
Of the Thai participants, 17 (42.5%) had used a
tablet before, 10 (50.0%) of the older and 7 (35.0%)
of the younger participants. Of the UK participants,
43 (71.7%) had used a tablet before, 24 (80.0%) of
the older and 19 (63.3%) of the younger participants.
In terms of popularity of devices to access the Web
(see Table 1), tablets are the most popular device for
older UK participants, but were never chosen by the
younger UK participants who strongly preferred
smartphones or laptops. Thai participants, both
younger and older, also preferred using their
smartphones to access the web.
Table 1: Popular devices for accessing the web (% and
number of participants, participants could choose more than
one option).
Device
UK participants
Thai participants
Old
Young
Old
Young
Smart phone
33.3%
(10)
70.0%
(21)
70.0%
(14)
95.0%
(19)
Tablet
computer
50.0
(15)
0.0
(0)
20.0
(4)
5.0
(1)
Laptop
computer
26.6
(8)
53.3
(16)
15.0
(3)
60.0
(12)
Desktop
computer
23.3
(7)
10.0
(3)
10.0 (2)
0.0
(0)
To thank them for their participation, a gift
voucher value at £25 and 500 Baht was offered to
older participants in the UK and Thailand,
respectively. A gift voucher value at £10 and 100
Baht was offered to younger participants in the UK
and Thailand, respectively. The difference in amount
was due to the longer time required for the study with
older participants.
3.3 Equipment and Materials
A 4th generation iPad tablet running iOS and Safari
was used for the study.
An initial demographic and background
questionnaire included three parts: (1) participants’
use of websites (2) their use of tablets and (3)
demographic information.
A website was created to present the texts, the
comprehension questions, and the post reading
questionnaire, with versions in English and Thai. The
colours used for the text and background were white
(#FFFFFF), black (#000000), buff (#F5EFDC), sepia
(#5E2612) and light blue (#ADD8E6) (see examples
in Figure 1). For the English version, each text had
three paragraphs and comprised approximately 230
words (15-17 sentences). The text length was chosen
to fit on a tablet screen without the need to scroll to
read the text. The five texts were adapted from
Wikipedia articles: Maple syrup, Taj Mahal, Peafowl,
the Dead Sea and Brownies. The texts were adjusted
to have the same readability level (Flesh-Kincaid and
Gunning Fox Index: Grade 9 to 10) in English. Three
multiple choice questions were created for each text
from a larger initial set. The difficulty of the
questions was assessed by a separate group of five
participants and three questions were chosen with the
same level of difficulty.
Figure 1: Examples of text and background colour
combinations (black/buff, sepia/buff, black/light blue).
For the Thai versions of the texts, the first author
translated the texts into Thai and then a back-
translation method was used to check the translations.
Another native speaker of Thai translated the texts
back into English and any discrepancies were
resolved. Each Thai text had three paragraphs and
approximately 260 words.
The texts were presented on the tablet in Arial
typeface for the English texts and in TH Sarabun New
typeface for the Thai texts. The latter is the official
typeface for documents in Thailand and is used on
many Thai websites (see Figure 2). For both
languages, texts were presented in 18 point with 1.5
line spacing and left justification, as recommended by
a number of researchers for the text body of websites
(Petrie et al., 2013; Kamollimsakul, 2014; Rello et al.,
2015).
Making Reading from a Tablet Computer Easier for Older People in Thailand and the UK: Effects of Text and Background Colours
241
A post-study questionnaire asked participants to
chose the colour combination they preferred. They
could view examples of each of the combinations if
they wished to remind them of the combinations.
The website was coded to record the time the
participants took to read each text (i.e. the time they
opened the page with the text to the time they moved
on to the question page) and their answers to the
questions into a database for later analysis.
Figure 2: TH Sarabun New typeface (used for Thai texts).
3.4 Procedure
The same procedure has been used in the UK and
Thailand. The study was conducted in a quiet room.
Participants were briefed about the aims of study and
the reading task. They completed an informed
consent form and the initial questionnaire. Before
reading the five texts, participants were given a
practice skim reading task to get confident to doing
the task and use of the tablet (important for the older
participants).
The participants then read each of the five texts.
They sat in any comfortable position for reading, but
with the tablet resting on the table in front of them.
When they had finished reading each text, they
answered three multiple-choice questions about it.
After reading all the texts, participants chose their
preferred colour combination. At end of the session,
participants were debriefed and encouraged to ask
questions about the study. They were thanked for
their participation and offered a gift voucher.
4 RESULTS
Shapiro-Wilk tests showed that the reading times
were not normally distributed (p < .05). To reduce
skew and the effect of outliers, a winsorizing process
was applied to data from Thailand and the UK
separately. Any times which were beyond standard
deviations from the mean were adjusted to the mean
+/- 2SD (Field, 2013). This resulted in normally
distributed data.
The comprehension scores were also not normally
distributed (p < .05), and the data were not suitable to
be adjusted with winsorization (due to small number
of possible values). Thus, non-parametric statistical
tests were used for analysis this variable.
4.1 Results from the UK
A mixed model ANOVA on reading times showed
there was a significant main effect for age group
(F
(1,40)
= 7.53, p < .05, η
p
2
= .16) and for sequence of
reading the texts (F
(4,224)
= 6.34, p < .05, η
p
=.10).
Older participants took significantly longer to read
the texts (Mean: 67.5 seconds, Standard Deviation:
24.57) than younger participants (M: 54.9, SD:
17.10). The sequence effect was that participants took
longer to read the texts as the study progressed. This
may have been due a fatigue effect, or it may have
been that as participants realised they needed to
answer comprehension questions about the texts, they
read more carefully (in spite of the instruction to skim
read) as the texts progressed. There was no significant
effect of the text/background colour variable, nor any
interaction between this variable and age group.
Friedman tests showed that there was no
significant difference in comprehension scores
between the different text/background combinations
(χ
2
=1.45, df=4, n.s) nor on the sequence of reading the
texts (χ
2
=1.92, df=4, n.s). A Mann-Whitney U test
also found that there was no significant difference in
comprehension scores between younger and older
participants. (U=430.5, n.s.).
Table 2 shows the preferences for the different
text and background colour combinations for younger
and older participants. A χ2 test showed that the
distribution of preferences for text/background
combinations between the two age groups and colour
combinations was significantly different from
random (χ2=12.82, df =4, p < .05). Taking older and
younger participants separately, older participants
most likely to choose either black on white or white
on black, although the distribution of preferences was
not significantly different from random (χ2 =6.34, df
=4, n.s.). Younger participants were most likely to
choose black on light blue or black on buff and their
distribution of preferences was significantly different
from random (χ2=11.67, df=4, p<.05). Most
interestingly, only 10% of younger participants chose
black on white, yet this is the most common
presentation of text, both on screen and in print.
4.2 Results from Thailand
A mixed model ANOVA on reading times showed
there was a significant main effect for age group (F
(1,21)
= 6.01, p <.05, η
p
2
=.222). Older participants took
significantly longer time to read the texts (M: 114.37,
ICT4AWE 2019 - 5th International Conference on Information and Communication Technologies for Ageing Well and e-Health
242
Figure 3: Mean reading time for each text in the sequence for younger and older Thai participants.
SD: 46.59) than younger participants (M: 85.79, SD:
31.82). However, there was no significant main effect
for either for colour combination of text/background
or sequence of reading the texts.
There was a significant interaction between age group
and sequence of reading (F
(4,143)
=2.58, p<.05,
η
p
2
=.07). Figure 3 shows that younger participants got
progressively quicker at reading whereas older
participants took longer after the first text. Again,
older participants may have had a fatigue effect, or
they may have realised that they needed to answer
questions about the texts and began to read more
carefully. In contrast, younger participants may be
more used to skim reading as they do it frequently on
the web, or as they are students, they might be very
proficient at skim reading materials and being able to
answer questions about that material.
Friedman tests showed that there was no
significant difference in comprehension scores
between the different text/background colour
combinations (χ
2
=2.24, df=4, n.s) nor on the sequence
of reading the texts (χ
2
= 1.68, df = 4, n.s). However,
a Mann-Whitney U test found that there was a
significant difference in comprehension scores for
age group (U=83.50, p<.05). The older participants
answered significantly fewer questions correctly
(Median: 1.00 correct out of 3) than younger
participants (Mdn: 2.00).
Table 3 shows the preferences for the different
text/background colour combinations for younger
and older Thai participants. A χ
2
test showed that the
distribution of preferences between the age groups
and the colour combinations was not significantly
different from random (χ
2
=1.92, df=4, n.s). Nor was
there a significant difference between preferences for
the colour combinations when younger and older
participants were considered together (χ
2
=3.25, df=4,
Table 2: Preferences of UK participants for text and
background colour combinations (% and number of
participants).
Colour Combination
(Text/background)
Younger
(N=30)
All
(N=60)
Black/White
3 (10.0%)
12 (20.0%)
White/Black
4 (13.3%)
13 (21.7%)
Black/Buff
10 (33.3%)
16 (26.7%)
Sepia/Buff
2
(6.7%)
6 (10.0%)
Black/Light blue
11 (36.7%)
13 (21.7%)
Table 3: Preferences of Thai participants for text and
background colour combinations (% and number of
participants).
Colour combinations
(Text/background)
Younger
(N=20)
All
(N=40)
Black/White
5 (25.0%)
12 (30.0%)
White/Black
4 (20.0%)
7 (17.5%)
Black/Buff
5 (25.0%)
9 (22.5%)
Sepia/Buff
4
(20.0%)
6 (15.0%)
Black/Light blue
2
(10.0%)
6 (15.0%)
n.s). The most popular choice was black text on white
background, chosen by 30.0% of participants.
5 DISCUSSION
This study investigated the effect of text and
background colours on the reading performance and
preferences of younger and older people in Thailand
and the UK. Older participants read significantly
more slowly than younger participants both countries,
Making Reading from a Tablet Computer Easier for Older People in Thailand and the UK: Effects of Text and Background Colours
243
and older Thai participants answered fewer multiple-
choice questions about the texts correctly. However,
the colour combinations of text and background had
no effect on reading time for either age groups in
either country. This result agrees with that of
Kamollimsakul (2014) who also worked with
younger and older participants in both Thailand and
the UK and found that a range of text background
colour combinations had no effect on reading
performance, albeit on a laptop rather than on a tablet.
The main purpose of the comprehension scores as
an independent variable was to ensure that
participants would read the texts, the purpose of the
study was not how accurately they answered the
questions. However, as noted above, the older Thai
participants answered significantly less questions
correctly than younger Thai participants. In contrast,
there was no significant difference on this variable
between the older and younger UK participants. This
difference may have been because older Thai
participants were less familiar with the material in the
texts. Although we attempted to find texts which
would be of universal interest but unfamiliar to
participants (so they could not answer questions from
their general knowledge), this proved a challenge.
In terms of preferences, only younger UK
participants showed a significant pattern of
preferences, favouring black text on light blue
background or black text on buff background. The
black on light blue result agrees with Yamazaki and
Eto’s (2015) study which found that older Japanese
participants performed better with black on light blue
or blue. However, that study did not use a reading
task, but a counting task and the participants were
older people, whereas our result was for the younger
UK participants, not the older ones. Only 6.7% of the
older UK participants chose black on light blue,
although 20.0% of the older Thai participants did so.
However, the numbers of participants in our
studies are not large for a preference question, so the
lack of significant results should be treated with
caution. Further research is needed to establish
whether there are clear preferences for these text
background colour combinations for either age group.
On the other hand these results to some extent
contradict the guidelines from Kurniawan and
Zaphiris (2005, see also Zaphiris et al., 2007, 2009)
and Loureiro and Rodrigues (2014) that blue tones
should be avoided (although it is not clear whether
they are referring to text or background), although
both sets of guidelines recommend strong contrast
which all the combinations in the current study found.
Kurniawan and Zaphiris (2005) also recommend
avoiding white backgrounds, but this was the most
popular choice for older Thai participants (35.0%)
and equal most popular for older UK participants
(30.0%). It may well be that this combination was
chosen frequently as participants are very familiar
with it in both print and digital formats.
The preference results are also somewhat different
from those of Kamollimsakul (2014). Like his results,
this study found that older participants tended to
prefer black text on white background (Thai: 35.0%,
UK: 30.0%), but he found that the least prefered
option in both countries was white on black, whereas
in this study this was the equal most popular choice
for older UK participants (30.0%), although not very
popular with older Thai participants (15.0%).
The study had several limitations apart from the
small sample size for the preference question, which
need to be considered. We did not attempt to control
the distance at which the participants viewed the
tablet screen, as we wanted to create a reasonably
ecologically valid scenario. We did ask participants
to place the table on the desk, to create a similar
viewing distance and for those who are regular users
of a tablet, this may have actually been a little odd.
The texts were originally created in English and the
length and level of readability were very carefully
matched across all five texts. However, there is no
measure of readability for texts in Thai, so the texts
could not be assessed for their readability once they
had been translated into Thai. Thus, we cannot be
sure that the texts were of equal readability in both
languages. The participants in both countries were
quite well educated and therefore not representative
of the whole population. Different results may be
found with less well educated participants with lower
literacy levels.
Pending further research on this topic, it is
reasonable at the moment to propose that black text
on a light background, either white, buff or pale blue
for presenting text on tablets to both older and
younger readers in both countries. This would
account for 67.5% of Thai preferences and 68.4% of
UK preferences in the current study. We hope this
will assist developers creating important information,
such as medical and health information for older
tablet users and will encourage other researchers to
further investigate this interesting and important
topic.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
We would like to thank all the participants in
Thailand and the UK for their time and efforts and our
ICT4AWE 2019 - 5th International Conference on Information and Communication Technologies for Ageing Well and e-Health
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colleagues in the HCI Group at York for acting as
participants in the question difficulty assessment.
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