Re: double-clicking / was Windows '95 -Reply

[Steve Christensen <STEVECH -at- WORDPERFECT -dot- COM>]

A friend once suggested that I substitute "self-explanatory" for "intuitive"
when talking about designing interfaces. Kind of puts a little different light
on the future of technical communicators.

>>> Scott J. Wilson <scott -at- WWTC -dot- TIMEPLEX -dot- COM> 09/28/94 09:19am
>>>

If we're going to have this discussion, perhaps we'd better define
"intuitive."

My dictionary (Merriam Webster's Collegiate Dictionary, 10th Edition)
defines intuitive as: "known or perceived by intuition : directly
apprehended"

Inutition is defined as: "quick and ready insight" and "immediate
apprehension or cognition."

Given these defintions, I think it's appropriate to ask: Is *anything* about
using a computer intuitive?

I'll go out on a limb and say I don't think so.

I think that some things about using a computer are more easily
apprehended than other things, once they're explained and practiced.

But intuitive? I think not. As I mentioned in another post on this subject,
I teach Windows and Macintosh classes, and many times I've had
students who couldn't turn on the computer. I've also had students who
put in floppy disks upside down and/or backwards. And I'm sure many of
us are familiar with the Star Trek movie where Scotty, in the 20th century
through means best not gotten into now, picks up a mouse attached to a
Macintosh and speaks into it in an attempt to give commands to the
computer.

Comments?

Scott J. Wilson scott -at- wwtc -dot- timeplex -dot- com
70541,1466
(310) 443-4028

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Steve Christensen
Senior Technical Writer
WordPerfect, the Novell Applications Group
SteveCh -at- WordPerfect -dot- com
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