The Curious Properties of Intuitive Web Pages

In this talk from An Event Apart 2013, Jared Spool, founder of UIE, discusses the surprisingly unintuitive logic behind creating “intuitive” websites.

When a web page works, users know exactly what to do. Everything makes sense and they reach their goal, pleased with the site. Often, though, pages don’t work, and users become flustered and confused. Spool explains that intuitive web pages follow a set of curiously unintuitive properties.

He shows how to merge interaction design, visual design, information architecture and other skills to assemble web experiences that delight users. Many of the patterns in the UI-Patterns.com library, such as favouring recognition over recall, exist to make interfaces feel intuitive in exactly this way.