[jalfresi]

I disagree - I think the importance of the distinction is that familiar interfaces work better than new, novel interfaces that supposedly tap into some deeper human psycology.

for example, using the scrollbars in the browser chrome provided by the operating system are better than hiding them and implemnting some custom "intuitive" scrolling mechanism.

In my opinion, the use of the work "intuitive" in UI design is a misnomer, when the designer actually means "subjective to me the designer"

[arrrg]

What are you on about? I don’t get it.

The intuitiveness of an interface is an empirical question. Whether it works or not is not some subjective fact.

The Venn Diagramm for “intuitive” definitely includes “familiar”, it’s just a more generic term where other factors except familiarity can also play a role.

Do you have any examples of someone pushing for something completely novel and unfamiliar under the banner of intuitiveness? That seems like something that doesn’t happen.

Your viewpoint on this just seems wholly weird and just doesn’t ring true at all. People abusing the term “intuitive” doesn’t make it useless.

(Plus, just for a moment going back to the article: This article does not argue for custom scroll bars or anything even remotely similar to that.)