guy@auspex.auspex.com (Guy Harris) (04/07/89)
>English is an excellent vehicle for describing abstract things, or things >which cannot be easilly represented as a 16*16 bitmap. Things such as >'Help', 'Print', 'Save', 'Exit', 'Delete', etc. What's wrong with these, And, to forestall the obvious responses, programs can be set up to, for example, get the text in question from, say, a file, for the benefit of those for whom English may *not* be an excellent vehicle for describing abstract things (which is probably a fairly large portion of the computer-using population).
reggie@dinsdale.nm.paradyne.com (George W. Leach) (04/11/89)
In article <1402@auspex.auspex.com> guy@auspex.auspex.com (Guy Harris) writes: >Not necessarily. Consider, for example, an icon for a mail-reading >program, in the form of a US-style mailbox. If used in some country >where the US-style mailboxes, with the little flag on the side, aren't >used, it won't necessarily mean anything. I think the Sun386i uses a >different icon for "mailtool", for precisely this reason; unfortunately, [text deleted] THe AT&T UNIX PC utilized an icon that signalled the arrival of mail. It was simply an envelope that would appear at a designated position on the screen. When mail was read the icon was removed from the display. A user could not select the icon and bring up a mail reader, but I believe the symbol used is somewhat recognizable anywhere in the world. The US-style mailbox is not even common throughout the US!!! I grew up in an area where I never saw one, except on a farm on TV :-) >The bottom line is that there is *no* guarantee that, merely by using an >icon, people of all nations - or even people of *your* nation - will >automatically know to what the icon refers. Right! The power of an icon is recognition of what it represents. The ability to reduce the number of commands that must be recalled in order to perform a task is the goal of why you want to use icons, menus, etc.... By designing icons that are not recognized by the user you defeat the purpose of them in the first place! I often find myself struggling with the "intuitive" Mac. George W. Leach AT&T Paradyne .!uunet!pdn!reggie Mail stop LG-129 reggie@pdn.paradyne.com P.O. Box 2826 Phone: (813) 530-2376 Largo, FL USA 34649-2826
jay@hqda-ai.UUCP (Jay Heiser) (04/13/89)
The reason that the international traffic signs work (although most of them seem to be fairly intuitive) is that they are universal. A red circle (color helps, but isn't necessary) with a bar around it means that whatever icon is on the inside is prohibited, lack of a bar means that it is encouraged. Wouldn't it be handy if computer icons were universal like that? I believe that OSF is trying to do just that. If Apple succeeds in patenting the garbage can....someone will have to think of something else. It will be impossible to develop a set of completely intuitive, culturally-independant icons. I think that making them 'standard' is more significant than trying to make them 'guessable'.