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Date:      Mon, 11 Jun 2001 12:48:49 -0600
From:      Duke Normandin <01031149@3web.net>
To:        Ted Mittelstaedt <tedm@toybox.placo.com>
Cc:        Freebsd Questions <freebsd-questions@freebsd.org>
Subject:   Re: Intuitive interface - was RE: vi
Message-ID:  <20010611124849.A122635@mandy.rockingd.calgary.ab.ca>
In-Reply-To: <000c01c0f241$0a458c60$1401a8c0@tedm.placo.com>; from "Ted Mittelstaedt" on Sun, Jun 10, 2001 at 11:37:52PM
References:  <20010609142241.A424@mutt.home.net> <000c01c0f241$0a458c60$1401a8c0@tedm.placo.com>

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On Sun, Jun 10, 2001 at 11:37:52PM -0700, Ted Mittelstaedt wrote:

[big honkin' snip]

> 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.

The above quote is only here as a reference point. I agree with the
contents of the 'snip' though. A case in point was my attemps at teaching
a 56yr old lady to use a computer and win95 a year or so ago. There's
_nothing_ intuitive about a GUI - she didn't know up from down. As a
matter of fact I was surprised to notice after a few days that she was
surfering from (visual) information overload. Too many little pictures,
in too many places, moving too bloody fast. It should have come as no
surprise to me, this was her first time in front of a computer -- ever.

You guys may not believe this, but I said piss on win95 -- let's do DOS.
I explained to her what a directory tree was; what a file was (created a
text file in front of her); taught her 'cd' and 'dir' -- and Bob's your
uncle! She was navigatin' and motivated ;) She dinked around with this
for a week or so - _then_ the GUI began making sense to her.

I was wondering -- how "intuitive" do you consider the signs at airports
-- you know, the ones that are suppose to be everything-neutral. Can't
remember the correct term for these signs. _There's_ a GUI system if I
ever saw one! As to how effective it is -- I'm curious.
-- 
-duke
Calgary, Alberta, Canada


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