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This paper reports the findings from a twoyear pilot project called Care OnLine (COL). The COL project has introduced computers and the Internet into the homes of 50 elderly and vulnerable volunteers and provided shared Internet access at five shared schemes housing older people across the Market Harbrorough district of Leicestershire. A specific web portal was designed that was geared towards older and vulnerable people and provided information about the different services available to them, as well as links to a variety of websites. All the volunteers were provided with training in using computers and the Internet, and were interviewed regarding their experiences. Findings related to their attitudes towards, and experiences of, computers and the Internet are reported. The impact of having access to computers and the Internet on the volunteers' lives and some lessons learnt from providing such a scheme are also discussed.

SUMMARYThis paper presents some of the work of the EU WWAAC project (World Wide Augmentative and Alternative Communication), which aims to make the electronic highway more accessible to people with cognitive and communication impairments, in particular those using symbols instead of text to communicate. Few specific guidelines are available to make sites truly accessible and usable for these user groups. We propose that guidelines are required for two purposes: to design standard Web pages for use by the general public, including a wide range of older people and people with disabilities, and also to design Web pages specifically for particular impairment groups, e.g. for symbol users in their personal, educational and employment activities. Not only should the guidelines be relevant to particular user groups, they must also be • accessible-that Web developers can easily find the most relevant guidelines, and• usable-that Web developers can easily put those guidelines into practice.

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