I wrote an article one this amongst other things recently... http://www.surfaceeffect.com/thoughts/intuitive
I'm arguing that intuition is founded on prior experience, and so what is intuitable for one person may not be for another. So you can't say that a system is intuitable without reference to who's using it. So yes, it's a misnomer! Cheers --Pete On 12 Feb 2008, at 18:01, paige saez wrote: > In general I find that the term "Intuitive" is used in describing > interfaces > way too often. Intuitive is seen to mean "good." Non-intuitive is > seen to > mean "bad." There are plenty of things that are intuitive, and > plenty of > interfaces that are familiar and easy to use. But these thing do > not always > line up with my vision of what intuitive IS. This is most likely > not a novel > argument but nonetheless does anyone have a stance on this? > > I think calling an interface intuitive presupposes an enormous > amount prior > knowledge. Something is intuitive only to someone already familiar > with it. > For instance, one could argue that a terminal/shell window is > intuitive: > The only thing you *can* do is type. Therefore is it *intuitive* > that this > is what you should do. It's knowing *what* to type specifically > that makes > all the difference and there is nothing intuitive about that. > > Furthermore if an interface is not intuitive it has failed somehow. > So if we > follow that then essentially we are saying only build familiar > interfaces. > Which I fundamentally agree with. But then how can we evolve intuitive > interfaces if we rely on their familiarity to already understood > patterns? > > Essentially I am thinking this question: How can we create > interfaces that > teach new behaviors? Some measure of intuitive plus novel would > seem to be > the recipe....particularly as interfaces move away from computers > and into > mobile devices and more ambient technologies I am curious about > what the > word "Intuitive" means when we are no longer in the realm of the > familiar AT > ALL. Can anyone suggest anything? > ________________________________________________________________ > Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! > To post to this list ....... [EMAIL PROTECTED] > Unsubscribe ................ http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe > List Guidelines ............ http://www.ixda.org/guidelines > List Help .................. http://www.ixda.org/help > ---------------------------------------------------------- There are three kinds of death in this world. There's heart death, there's brain death, and there's being off the network. - Guy Almes Peter Bagnall - http://www.surfaceeffect.com/about/pete ________________________________________________________________ Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ....... [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe ................ http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines ............ http://www.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .................. http://www.ixda.org/help
