Re: [TCLUG:13146] VI quick reference

[Dave Sherohman <esper@usinternet.com>]

^chewie said:
> *sigh*  non-intuitive.  Can you *seriously* call ANY console-based text
> editor intuitive.

s/console-based text editor/piece of software/

> intuitive design is nothing more than perception of the
> user.

Damn straight!  In a number of ways, *nix feels more 'intuitive' to many
people (like me) because of a number of internal consistencies (although
there are exceptions, of course...), yet we hear daily that Windows is more
'intuitive' than anything available under *nix, which leads to people making
Win95-clone window managers left and right.

But Windows is _not_ more intuitive than *nix (or at least *nix GUIs), it's
more _familiar_.  I'm sure you've seen this argument made dozens of times in
relation to OSes, and (if you're on the TCLUG list) you probably agree with
it to some extent.  But the principle applies to any application just as
well:  An 'intuitive' piece of software is one that behaves like you've been
trained to expect software to behave.

Having said that, modal software tends to be confusing to beginning (and
sometimes even experienced) users unless it clearly advertises the current
mode (paint programs changing the cursor into brushes, erasers, etc. is
'clear advertisement'; vi-like programs displaying 'Input' or 'Command' at
the bottom of the window isn't - it still takes a conscious effort by the
user to check the mode) because the same keystrokes will inexplicably do
different things at different times.

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