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From: garrett@brahms.udel.edu (Joel Garrett)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac.apps
Subject: Re:  Intuitive....
Message-ID: <13927@brahms.udel.edu>
Date: 21 Sep 90 15:59:01 GMT
References: <1990Sep20.171421@miguel.llnl.gov>
Organization: University of Delaware
Lines: 33

I've always found that people who go through the 'guided tour' information that
comes with the machines that leads the users through the basic Mac concepts
usually have few problems in picking up on how to use different types of Mac
applications.  Of course, this doesn't cover the dirty details of things like
installing fonts, new software, upgrades, etc.  But these things are all usually
documented someplace in most commercial software, so that isn't a problem.

However, I have also found that people like students who are expected to just
walk into a public access lab and intuitively know how to use things like
MacWrite, they're no better off than the person who has to learn Wordperfect
on a PC in the same lab, at least initially.  This is especially true of the
"compuphobe" class of people who seem to think that merely touching the computer
will result in some kind of explosion or personal injury (ok, so I'm
exaggerating a little here, but those of you who have worked in such labs know
what I'm talking about)

So, yes, the intuitive thing, taken out of context, can be misleading.

Any computer software, without some kind of initial orientation, is far from
intuitive to use.  It just so happens that the Mac takes less time to at least
get started and marginally productive with.  Just like any other system though,
it takes time, practice, and reading of documentation to master most mac 
applications that do anything sizeable (such as a word processor or a freehand
drawing program)

What's even better are the users who don't dig beyond the "obvious" (read that
as program options that one can either find directly in the menus or minor trial/error) and the actions they take while using a program to make it do something.

I'm sure many support people have experienced some variant on the user who
is using MS Word or some similar WP application just like they'd use a type-
writer... You know, doing double-spacing by hitting the return key an extra
time between lines, using the spacebar to align tables and do indents, etc.,
etc.  So much for intuition! ;-)