Intuitive Interactive interface: interface without interface

One of the biggest lies in the software industry is the so-called "intuitive interaction interface". It's like a fashion craze in the IT industry: from tech giants to startups, the entire Silicon Valley is known to have developed such technology. Unfortunately, the end result is always disappointing.

The future is bright, however, because developers now have all the necessary data to predict exactly what users need and when. The answer comes from data, situations, and a common creed: less is more.

The meaning of "intuition"

Merriam-Webster's definition of "intuition" is: "a natural ability to understand something without any evidence, or a sense of directing someone to act in a way that does not fully understand the cause of intuition." ”

By definition, this does not seem to promote human-computer interaction.

Tech, Jeffraskin, the Apple's father of the Macintosh, Jeff Laskin that PCs can form an extraordinary complement to all families. He even wrote that the 1994 digital interface had no intuitive nature. But software companies are trying to tell us that their solutions feel natural, their products don't need any knowledge, and they are intuitive to use.

If you search the word "intuition" in Apple's News center, you will find many results related to products such as IOS8, CarPlay, and Safari. Looking for "intuition" on Google's official blog, you'll find more than 30 different posts. Search the Microsoft News Center and even find a full 89 pages of content.

Of course, not only these three companies are widely used in this vocabulary. Facebook, Oracle or any software company have been trumpeting the "intuitive interface" for years.

The traditional interface is not natural enough

You might say that the introduction of the mouse makes the use of the computer simple and straightforward (the one mentioned in the above is different), and the appearance of the high quality touch screen finally gives the computer a "natural" feeling. But none of this is telling the whole truth, and there is even a lot of misleading.

Admittedly, after decades of development, the learning costs of human-computer interaction have been greatly reduced. We now have an entire generation of digital citizens who have mastered technology and software capabilities at a much faster pace. There are even a number of "digital migrants" who have been able to deal with applications and operating systems with ease: Unsurprisingly, such people are often technology enthusiasts, or employees of start-up or IT companies.

But this does not make the digital interface "natural". You can't just because the younger generation and Silicon Valley people think it's easy to learn a computer, it's like not just because Wall Street people tell you that a credit-default swap is easy, you believe that.

A few weeks ago, my grandmother called me. She uses PCs to make Skype calls and read news, occasionally commenting. But her bedroom was plastered with various notes, detailing the steps of each use, lest she forget.

The reason she called me was simple: she couldn't get on the internet, so her favorite online activities were collectively shut down. In fact, to solve this problem, you just need to re-establish the Wi-Fi connection. In the WINDOWS8, this probably only needs to be clicked 3. If you know what to do, you can do it in just a few seconds.

But my grandmother only used Skype and news apps, and she didn't know which icon in the lower right corner represented Wi-Fi. It seems very difficult to explain to her by phone that it is an icon that can vary according to the state of the network. Not only that, she doesn't even know which network she should be accessing.

In fact, it was because I was so familiar with the various technology products that I had a language barrier between my grandmother and me. The switch icon in my eyes was just a gray rectangle in my grandmother's opinion.

If my grandmother's example seems exaggerated to you, look at other examples. For example, how do your parents, or other people who know less about computers, react when some of the application or platform operations are beyond a few routine steps in their regular memory?

Discard the user interface?

Goulden Krisna (Golden Krishna) published a very pertinent theory, and he believes that the basic model used in today's user interface is not only unnatural, anti-human, even the problem of diminishing returns. He gave a better solution: no interface.

Whether we can achieve such a goal is still unknown. But one thing is certain: full change is about to unfold.

The overall adjustment of user interface is a reversal of the development direction of human-computer interaction. Until now, we are still looking at individuals and mobile computing devices in a directory structure.

But the situation is gradually changing. In the future, content will proactively find us and give practical hints quickly.

As Intercom's Paul Adam (Pauladam) said, the need to focus on browsing icons and menu applications is fading away from us. Future interfaces will be led by cards, notices and natural language communication.

In fact, we have seen the change. Apple has launched an operational notice and is recommending apps in iOS 8 to make it easier for users to perform certain actions directly on the screen.

Google's Google now goes a step further. This digital assistant can be integrated with your Google account and learn your habits. Google now tries to understand the user's situation and to display the correct information in a card way. When you unlock your phone, you'll see on the screen that it's going to rain today, traffic on the way to work is on the rise, ebay orders have been issued, and tonight's Champions League fixtures.

It is worth mentioning that the two Silicon Valley giants, as well as Microsoft and Amazon in Seattle, are working to develop speech recognition technology and natural language technology, which is also a key element in enhancing human-computer interaction.

However, to reduce user dependency on the interface is not just Apple and Google, such as platform providers, Spotify and Uber recently announced a cooperation agreement, so that passengers only need to click a button, in the car audio playback of its stored in Spotify's tracks.

The future of the interactive interface

Uber's collaboration with Spotify allows users to seamlessly switch their music playback devices from headphones to car audio systems without having to take their phones out of their pockets. This is not a great idea, but it can really reduce the resistance in the process of human-computer interaction. But we should be further.

To achieve this vision, applications and platforms need to make full use of the data and understand the context in which the user is situated. The simple thing is to collect all the data we provide to our computer systems. What is more difficult? is the organization data structure, gives it the real meaning, and transforms it into the real function, can not simply push the lock screen interface to be able to operate the notice.

The key is to tailor the experience to specific user needs. This requires an all-round understanding of the user. But aren't we already giving it companies this kind of authority?

With the social API, they will know who we like. With online and mobile shopping, they can know what we need and like. With GPS, Wi-Fi and ibeacon, they know where we are and how long we can stay in this position. They can even use large data to determine when and where we will have a one-night stand.

It may sound creepy, but if you really want to reduce the resistance of the interface, you have to accept the reality. Whether privacy should be exchanged for convenience is another issue.

To better understand the user, the software running on the computer and computer must also understand the user's real environment.

It's your turn to play on the Internet. Bennedict Ivans (Benedictevans) is right: The application store is no longer competent to apply the discovery of the task. What I really want to fit in is the real environment where I am now. The era of Internet of Things has begun, and it will not be long before the developed world has millions of people living in smart furniture, smart cars and smart offices. The data provided by these networked devices, sensors and indoor positioning systems all contribute to a deeper understanding of people's habits.

Not only do you know you're at work, you know where you are, when you last took a vacation, you even know that your Vice president was unable to meet on time because of the traffic jam. So, you can cancel the reservation in the conference room and continue to have a leisurely drink of coffee.

What's even more magical is that you just click a button to change the date of the meeting, and then click on another button to start the coffee machine, the whole process does not have to leave the lock screen interface.

Of course, there will still be a lot of advanced users, or more precisely, some advanced usage scenarios-most of which are related to problem solving and programming. This needs to be as comprehensive as it is now, and it must use a directory-based navigation interface. If you have to study a client and prepare a list of terms for it, the next generation of Google Now may be able to help you find the right information, but it still won't be able to help you make a deal.

Companies will have a variety of data and tools to create a new situational interface. And the number of these data and tools is increasing. Now, we are still far away from the dream moment, but of course the dream will become a reality when software developers and designers abandon the directory structure and instead offer a variety of projects that can be manipulated.

No matter who first realizes this vision, it is possible to develop the first intuitive interface, which is no interface. (Long song)

(Responsible editor: Lvguang)