Editing Usability (section)

===Intuitive interaction or intuitive use===
{{see also|Natural user interface}}
The term [[Intuition (knowledge)|intuitive]] is often listed as a desirable trait in usable interfaces, sometimes used as a synonym for [[learnability|learnable]]. In the past, [[Jef Raskin]] discouraged using this term in user interface design, claiming that easy to use interfaces are often easy because of the user's exposure to previous similar systems, thus the term 'familiar' should be preferred.<ref>[http://www.asktog.com/papers/raskinintuit.html Intuitive equals familiar] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091005202036/http://www.asktog.com/papers/raskinintuit.html |date=2009-10-05 }}, Communications of the ACM. 37:9, September 1994, pg. 17.</ref> As an example: Two vertical lines "||" on media player buttons do not intuitively mean "pause"&mdash;they do so by convention. This association between intuitive use and familiarity has since been empirically demonstrated in multiple studies by a range of researchers across the world, and intuitive interaction is accepted in the research community as being use of an interface based on past experience with similar interfaces or something else, often not fully conscious,<ref>{{Cite book |title=Intuitive interaction : research and application |date=2018 |editor=Alethea Blackler |publisher=CRC Press |isbn=978-1-315-16714-5 |location=Boca Raton, FL |oclc=1044734346}}</ref> and sometimes involving a feeling of "magic"<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Ullrich |first1=Daniel |last2=Diefenbach |first2=Sarah |title=Proceedings of the 6th Nordic Conference on Human-Computer Interaction: Extending Boundaries |chapter=From magical experience to effortlessness |date=2010-10-16 |chapter-url=https://doi.org/10.1145/1868914.1869033 |series=NordiCHI '10 |location=New York, NY, USA |publisher=Association for Computing Machinery |pages=801–804 |doi=10.1145/1868914.1869033 |isbn=978-1-60558-934-3|s2cid=5378990 }}</ref> since the course of the knowledge itself may not be consciously available to the user . Researchers have also investigated intuitive interaction for older people,<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Lawry |first1=Simon |last2=Popovic |first2=Vesna |last3=Blackler |first3=Alethea |last4=Thompson |first4=Helen |date=January 2019 |title=Age, familiarity, and intuitive use: An empirical investigation |url=https://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/S0003687018302898 |journal=Applied Ergonomics |language=en |volume=74 |pages=74–84 |doi=10.1016/j.apergo.2018.08.016|pmid=30487112 |s2cid=54105210 }}</ref> people living with dementia,<ref>{{Citation |last1=Blackler |first1=Alethea |title=Intuitive Interaction Framework in User-Product Interaction for People Living with Dementia |date=2020 |url=http://link.springer.com/10.1007/978-3-030-32835-1_10 |work=HCI and Design in the Context of Dementia |pages=147–169 |editor-last=Brankaert |editor-first=Rens |place=Cham |publisher=Springer International Publishing |language=en |doi=10.1007/978-3-030-32835-1_10 |isbn=978-3-030-32834-4 |access-date=2022-10-24 |last2=Chen |first2=Li-Hao |last3=Desai |first3=Shital |last4=Astell |first4=Arlene |series=Human–Computer Interaction Series |s2cid=220794844 |editor2-last=Kenning |editor2-first=Gail|url-access=subscription }}</ref> and children.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Desai |first1=Shital |last2=Blackler |first2=Alethea |last3=Popovic |first3=Vesna |date=2019-09-01 |title=Children's embodied intuitive interaction – Design aspects of embodiment |url=https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2212868918300552 |journal=International Journal of Child-Computer Interaction |language=en |volume=21 |pages=89–103 |doi=10.1016/j.ijcci.2019.06.001 |s2cid=197709773 |issn=2212-8689}}</ref>

Some have argued that aiming for "intuitive" interfaces (based on reusing existing skills with interaction systems) could lead designers to discard a better design solution only because it would require a novel approach and to stick with boring designs. However, applying familiar features into a new interface has been shown not to result in boring design if designers use creative approaches rather than simple copying.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Hurtienne |first1=J. |last2=Klockner |first2=K. |last3=Diefenbach |first3=S. |last4=Nass |first4=C. |last5=Maier |first5=A. |date=2015-05-01 |title=Designing with Image Schemas: Resolving the Tension Between Innovation, Inclusion and Intuitive Use |journal=Interacting with Computers |language=en |volume=27 |issue=3 |pages=235–255 |doi=10.1093/iwc/iwu049 |issn=0953-5438|doi-access=free }}</ref> The throwaway remark that "the only intuitive interface is the nipple; everything else is learned."<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.greenend.org.uk/rjk/2002/08/nipple.html |title=The Only Intuitive Interface Is The Nipple |last=Kettlewell|first=Richard|publisher=Greenend.org.uk |access-date=2013-11-01 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120130131229/http://www.greenend.org.uk/rjk/2002/08/nipple.html |archive-date=2012-01-30 }}</ref> is still occasionally mentioned. Any breastfeeding mother or [[lactation consultant]] will tell you this is inaccurate and the nipple does in fact require learning on both sides. In 1992, [[Bruce Tognazzini]] even denied the existence of "intuitive" interfaces, since such interfaces must be able to intuit, i.e., "perceive the patterns of the user's behavior and draw inferences."<ref>Tognazzini, B. (1992), ''Tog on Interface'', Boston, MA: Addison-Wesley, p. 246.</ref> Instead, he advocated the term "intuitable," i.e., "that users could intuit the workings of an application by seeing it and using it". However, the term intuitive interaction has become well accepted in the research community over the past 20 or so years and, although not perfect, it should probably be accepted and used.