[mixedbit]

I agree and I think it is impossible to create an interface that is optimal for both inexperienced and power users. For users that are using a piece of software frequently, say few hours a day, intuitiveness of an interface should not matter, just efficiency.

I'm often surprised when I see professional programmers turning on some fancy 3D destop effects. Sure, these look nice, but they are only distracting and counter productive when you are using an environment several hours a day.

tl;dr xmonad rocks

[chimeracoder]

For power users, the word 'intuitive' doesn't even make sense. There's nothing 'intuitive' about hjkl, but when I tried switching from wmii to i3, the very first thing I did was switch their navigation keybindings back from jkl; to hjkl. Yes, the reasons for hjkl are historic and arbitrary, but I don't care - I don't want to relearn yet another set of muscle memories when I don't have to.

Even vim on the whole is completely 'unintuitive'. That's the whole reason vimtutor exists. But, the couple of hours I've spent (combined) over the last few years learning how to use it has paid off in full and with dividends in terms of my productivity - and I hopefully have many more decades of life to recoup that investment many more times over.

> I'm often surprised when I see professional programmers turning on some fancy 3D destop effects. Sure, these look nice, but they are only distracting and counter productive when you are using an environment several hours a day.

I couldn't find these more annoying. Web interfaces tend to be the worst (because they're highly uncustomizeable). I don't want a slick, 3 second animation where the tab wiggles and slides every time I want to change the page (I'm looking at you, AmEx). I know where I want to go, and I just want to get there immediately. Every second that I'm delayed by flashy animations in something that I need to use several times a day just makes me despise the product a little bit more each time.

Outside of very specific applications/domains (gaming, simulations, etc.), I don't want anything to replace my keyboard. As GP said, nothing (including the mouse) can beat the keyboard for allowing maximum control and precision with minimal movement.

[JasonFruit]

Maybe a better word than 'intuitive' is 'obvious', or even 'blatant'. For a user inexperienced with the application and unfamiliar with interface conventions, the most effective interface is one whose most basic features scream, "Here I am!" A skilled, experienced user needs the opposite — everything should be available at the press of a key, and he or she knows which key it is; anything that calls attention to itself and is not the work at hand is a distraction, and needs to go hide.