Date: Sun, 14 Jul 1996 14:30:41 -0500 (EST) From: John Fieber <jfieber@indiana.edu> To: Sean Kelly <kelly@fsl.noaa.gov> Cc: freebsd-chat@freebsd.org Subject: Re: FreeBSD keyboard Message-ID: <Pine.BSF.3.94.960714141640.1889B-100000@Fieber-John.campusview.indiana.edu> In-Reply-To: <199607141558.PAA17189@gatekeeper.fsl.noaa.gov>
next in thread | previous in thread | raw e-mail | index | archive | help
On Sun, 14 Jul 1996, Sean Kelly wrote: > The argument that ``a picture > worth is worth a thousand words'' doesn't hold any water when most > icons actually represent just one or two words. Universal, culturally neutral, self-evident icons are a myth, but once an icon mapping has been learned, it can be much quicker to pick out an icon among others than a word among others. There is a reason road signs are not all rectangular with black text on a white background! The shape and color of a stop sign represents only a single word, but it would be a heck of a lot less effective if it were only represented textually. The same goes for icons I use for iconified applications on my X desktop. A picture of an envelope means one thing (email), but I can identify and get the mouse to it in an instant. It is much slower without the image and requires linguistic brain effort. (Whether the use of screen space is warranted is separate issue.) -john == jfieber@indiana.edu =========================================== == http://fallout.campusview.indiana.edu/~jfieber ================
Want to link to this message? Use this URL: <https://mail-archive.FreeBSD.org/cgi/mid.cgi?Pine.BSF.3.94.960714141640.1889B-100000>