PawPawMail is designed to provide the simples e-mail interface available. The user sees just what is available on any given screen -- not hundreds of options.
We designed it specifically for seniors' needs in two ways. First, its straightforward interface makes it simple to learn for those who are new to computers. Second, its large text and buttons, and its overall clean, high-contrast interface, help users with vision and dexterity problems.
And there's nothing to install, so you can be running on virtually any old computer that you can connect to the internet. It's the perfect way to keep an older relative in touch with the digital generation.
We started PawPawMail to help our own families. The original interface was built for a co-founder's grandfather, whose eleven grandchildren called him "Paw Paw".
We needed three things from PawPawMail:
- an interface that made sense to Paw Paw (his wife had been the technical one of the pair);
- the ability for us to assist him from out of town;
- and the ability to make sure that he didn't receive lots of spam, scams, and confusing e-mails from strangers.
So a project to get Paw Paw online became PawPawMail. You can read more about our story in the New York Times article, Easier E-mail for the Older Generation, or read more about us in other coverage.
You'll love it for the same reason our existing users and managers love it: it bridges the digital divide. We constantly hear stories of someone using a computer for the first time with PawPawMail, of grandparents (and many great-grandparents) receiving pictures of the youngest relatives right away, and of families being in closer touch.
You, as a user, guide the development, and real people answer our phones when you have problems. Try it out for a free 10-day trial and see for yourself.
