Re: The dangerous myth of the "completely intuitive product"

[Fred Wersan <wersan -at- ZEUS -dot- MA30 -dot- BULL -dot- COM>]

The discussion of intuitive products lead me to look in the dictuionary. The
first definition of intuition in WEbster's says: The direct knowing of
 learning of something without the conscious use of reasoning; immediate
 apprehension or understanding.

The idea of directly knowing how to use a software product without reasoning
seems unlikely. Is the definition of intuition undergoing a change? It would
seem so. It seems that when discussed in the interface context, intuitivity
really means that given familiarity with similar products and with the
 assistance of menus, icons, or other signals, a person can figure out how
 things work
and do something useful without needing to take a training course or read a
manual. This is very much a process of reasoning, and arguably the opposite of
 intuition.

Of course, none of this affects the underlying meaning of the intuitive product
discussion, but it struck me as interesting.

I am putting together a workshop on writing helpful help for the Interchange
conference coming up in April (Boston and Northern N.E. STC). The question of
whether or not anything is self explanatory and, therefore, not in need of
help text will be part of the discussion I hope to generate.

Fred Wersan
f -dot- wersan -at- bull -dot- com