Re: [Nautilus-list] Nautilus user testing at MIT

[Seth Nickell <seth eazel com>]

> I came to the conclusion that "I consider this intuitive" meant
> "It behaves as did app X on OS Y, and that combination was the
> first one I became used to".

I think this is largely true, since our intuitions are formed by
patterns of behavior we have learned from past experience. This does not
make "intuitive" a useless concept though. Many of our patterns of
interaction are shared across a much broader basis than mere operating
system platforms. People have much broader commonalities that can be
drawn upon.

For example, most people recognize a flashing red "light" as some sort
of danger or warning signal. Some of us see it in traffic signals, some
fire engines, the flashing red light in the submarine movie, the "do not
press this button" in a cartoon. So the use of a flashing red light
might be considered extremely intuitive to most users, certainely a
broader support base than intuitions based on a particular OS. Another
example might be trying to figure out what most people expect from, say
a drag and drop, based on their experiences with physical interaction in
the real world. Sometimes its not clear, but you can definitely say some
things seem to work much better than others.

-Seth