Bringing the social web to seniors

Imaginea had been working with different MVC (Model-View-Controller) frameworks, especially Ruby on Rails (RoR), to organize application programming for a long time. So, when a client asked Imaginea for quick development and release of novel software that would make the internet and the PC easy-to-use and fun for the elderly, Imaginea naturally turned to RoR.

The solution was meant to tackle a hitherto unaddressed need of senior citizens. It was to be designed to help them be in touch with friends and families, be in touch with the children and grandkids — to share photos, send emails, to safely browse and shop on the net, and for other activities that people carry out online.

The unique feature of this application is that when launched, it takes over the entire screen of the user's Windows PC. Senior citizens can then use this easy-to-use interface, and the distinctive icons and visual elements, to use the computer and the Internet as easily as any other user.

Imaginea took advantage of the flexible, MVC architecture of RoR, its emphasis on Convention over Configuration (CoC), and the rapid development principle of Don't Repeat Yourself (DRY) when developing the application using an Agile approach. The Scaffolding feature of Rails™ helped create useful prototypes with very little coding that developers could show to the client, and iterate quickly. The emailing functionality used AJAX features that had to work with the Rails framework, a task that needed some clever thinking from our side. Besides the large icons and visual elements used to facilitate navigation, this application can also be used on a touch-screen monitor.

The client was delighted to have this application live so quickly, and with the fabulous response they received from their users, making us happy that we played a small part in making their user's golden years, truly memorable!