From owner-freebsd-questions Mon Jun 11 4:35: 6 2001 Delivered-To: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Received: from snipe.mail.pas.earthlink.net (snipe.mail.pas.earthlink.net [207.217.120.62]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 02C8237B405 for ; Mon, 11 Jun 2001 04:35:02 -0700 (PDT) (envelope-from dleimbac@earthlink.net) Received: from mutt.home.net (1Cust110.tnt1.starkville.ms.da.uu.net [63.30.107.110]) by snipe.mail.pas.earthlink.net (EL-8_9_3_3/8.9.3) with ESMTP id EAA25049 for ; Mon, 11 Jun 2001 04:34:50 -0700 (PDT) Received: (from dave@localhost) by mutt.home.net (8.11.3/8.11.3) id f5BBbMh00590 for questions@freebsd.org; Mon, 11 Jun 2001 06:37:22 -0500 (CDT) (envelope-from dave) Date: Mon, 11 Jun 2001 06:37:21 -0500 From: David Leimbach To: questions@freebsd.org Subject: Re: Intuitive interface - was RE: vi Message-ID: <20010611063721.A542@mutt.home.net> References: <20010609142241.A424@mutt.home.net> <000c01c0f241$0a458c60$1401a8c0@tedm.placo.com> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Disposition: inline User-Agent: Mutt/1.2.5i In-Reply-To: <000c01c0f241$0a458c60$1401a8c0@tedm.placo.com>; from tedm@toybox.placo.com on Sun, Jun 10, 2001 at 11:37:52PM -0700 X-Operating-System: FreeBSD mutt.home.net 4.3-RELEASE FreeBSD 4.3-RELEASE Sender: owner-freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG Precedence: bulk List-ID: List-Archive: (Web Archive) List-Help: (List Instructions) List-Subscribe: List-Unsubscribe: X-Loop: FreeBSD.ORG > > Don't lie to yourself - human intuition doesen't have anything to do with > this. > All it is, is a standardized user interface. While you can definitely make > a > good case that a standardized user interface across all computer software > programs > would create maximum utility, there is still going to be that initial > learning > curve for the person who has never encountered the standardized user > interface. > Intuition isn't going to do a damn thing for them here. > > Think about how "intuitive" the arraingement of letters on a typewriter > keyboard is - it's the God of Standardization here that is being > worshipped - not an intuitive > interface. > Yeah and technically bandwidth [another misused term] is really not the amount of data you can exchange between one point and another. Its just a range of frequencies which may or may not help you get data across. I may have huge bandwidth but it its noisy forget about data.... :) Intuitive interface most likely falls in to this category of misused terms. You feel they should say "common" or "easy" interface. There are lots of crusades I could take up for the sake of terminology but I really don't care enough to run around trying to correct everyone. Eventually if enough people accept what everyone is saying a certain term means... it becomes a meaning for the word. Words are just symbols used to express a meaning and these meaning change over time... To argue traditional meaning against popular meaning seems futile and the subject becomes noise that makes people promptly ignore it altogether. This happens when the argument becomes stale a repetitive. I totally agree with you that intuitive is the *wrong* word to use for any tool a human might learn to use... But that is what makes us primates so special is our ability to use tools. [Ever seen an ape *fish* for ants in a dead tree?]. I bet that ape had to learn how to use the stick too. Dave Leimbach To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-questions" in the body of the message