Of course, (most) blogs are not designed as commercial sites, so some of the above mentioned considerations are not all that important. HOWEVER, I have found that blogsites that use a black background with white lettering are the pits when it comes to legibility. Let me check some of my more used sites and I will propagate a list (don't you love big words!).

Eric,

Hey, thanks for the tips. I'll check my blog for violations. I've noticed, for example, that Amazon has redesigned its web pages in the last few weeks. They now make liberal (there's that word again!) use of flyout menus and it has been driving me nuts.

They need to hire you.

Have fun propagating.

Jim

Oh, and by the way, I've been meaning to mention the kick I got out of your "going away for the weekend" post wherein you used the phrase "regular content-free blogging will resume..." I've been repeating that in my head and chuckling for days now.

oops...that's not you propagating, it's someone else. I should be more careful, throwing those big words around like that.

Of course I've considered those things--I'm an old guy, myself! But I also have Sometimerz Disease and forget to fix stuff.

Cowtown Pattie sent me here to see if I could add any help.

Because one of my blogs is about getting older, I think about these things every day, though I don't always follow my own advice.

You've pretty well got it nailed in what you've figured out already. Not setting a fixed text size is crucial, as is Pattie's advice about no dark backgrounds.

Another thing to consider is how old eyes deal with color. Older people don't differentiate well between blue and green, and between red and orange, so you don't want to use these pairs of colors together in design elements or to indicate different things near each other.

Another consideration is clear, clear, clear navigation. Every section link, by placement and label should leave no question about what it is.

And liberal use of links to related stories are useful too. So if there's a page explaining angina, for example, even if that topic is a nav link, list the related links at the bottom of each story too, or link to a topic page listing all angina-related stories if there is one. You get the idea.

As you design this site, you'll be fine if you try to remember what it was like when you first discovered the web. Things we "old-time users" take for granted in getting around a site (even when badly designed) is difficult for older people, many of whom don't use the web as frequently as some of us do and aren't so familiar with the conventions.

heart surgery on younger patients isn't unheard of

Yes, and here I am to prove that point explicitly!

Of course, (most) blogs are not designed as commercial sites, so some of the above mentioned considerations are not all that important.

CP, I'd like to play devil's advocate for a moment with your assertion by stating that if you're blogging with the idea of attracting (and retaining) readers, then all of these ideas should be consciously considered for implementation. Now, you may then consciously decide that some of them are either irrelevant to your perceived readership demographic, inconsistent with your desired stylistic leanings, or simply a matter of subjective taste...and that's fine. What I'm suggesting is that these design decisions should be made thoughtfully, not just allowed to happen because of some blog software template.

And, much as we're all free spirits who consider our blogs to be our personal playgrounds, I suspect that most of us would run...not walk...to fix a stylistic feature that we knew was motivating our readers not to return.

Ronni, thanks for weighing in from your obvious area of expertise. I often try to look at my designs through "inexperienced" eyes, but your reminder is timely. Having recently assisted my octogenarian father-in-law break in his first home computer, I've learned that there's very little about technology that's intuitive.

I should point out that even if you specify font sizes in your stylesheet, as I do, Firefox will still allow the text to be resized with Ctrl-+ or - as appropriate.

...Firefox will still allow the text to be resized with Ctrl-+ or - as appropriate.

As will just about every other browser except for IE for Windows. Unfortunately, we know all too well the market share of that execrable piece of software.