Robyn Overstreet

The New York Times has an article about a blind Google engineer who’s working on mobile applications that will benefit the blind. He points out that the applications he develops aren’t exclusively for people with disabilities — they also enhance the usability of devices across abilities. Most any book you read about web accessibility (I’m thinking Zeldman here) will tell you as much, but this really drives home the importance of separating the data from the mode of delivery. The content may need to go on a mobile device; it may need to be spoken, or both. And by extension, the application should be flexible enough to interpret different types of input as well — typing, speaking, tilting or shaking a cell phone. In thinking about making applications intuitive, I find this really instructive. While intuition does rely on the senses, it’s not dependent on any one of them; in fact, it’s that indefinable combination of senses, or “sixth sense” that makes intuition what it is.