Significant Structural Characteristics for the Websites Designed for Iranian Teenagers with Age of 12-14 Years

This study seeks to identify significant structural characteristics of the websites designed for Iranian teenagers with age of 12-14 years. It was accomplished using structural analysis of 54 English and Persian websites designed for teenagers, as well as opinion polling from 93 experts and 32 teenagers with age of 12-14 years. This was achieved as survey through a questionnaire. To analyze data, descriptive statistics together with T-test and Chi-square test were used. By investigating the opinions f the two mentioned groups, i.e. the experts and teenagers, 27 important structural characteristics (among the 30 identified characteristics) were determined for the websites designed for Iranian teenagers with age of 12-14 years. The 10 most significant ones were as follows: text readability (92.4%), high loading speed (89.2%), logo (88.1%), clearness of the titles of pages (86.3%), link to homepage (86%), correct grammar used in the website (86%), considering search engines for searching the website (82.8%), use of different colors (82.7%), governance in pages (81.6%), and use of images (81.5%).Originality/Value: To best of our knowledge, no research has been conducted so far regarding structural characteristics of the websites designed for children and adolescents in a specific age category considering their needs and characteristics; this makes the present study valuable. In addition by using the result of this study, the website designers, librarians of public libraries, parents, and teachers can design or choose appropriate websites for the mentioned group.