Path: utzoo!attcan!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!ames!uhccux!munnari.oz.au!murtoa.cs.mu.oz.au!otc!softway!gary From: gary@softway.oz (Gary Corby) Newsgroups: comp.cog-eng Subject: Re: What to know & universal icons Message-ID: <2087@softway.oz> Date: 6 Sep 89 00:05:07 GMT References: <768@cogsci.ucsd.EDU> <3490@rtech.rtech.com> <1316@blackbird.afit.af.mil> <56868@aerospace.AERO.ORG> <1989Sep3.055622.28387@gpu.utcs.utoronto.ca> Organization: Softway Pty Ltd, Sydney, Australia Lines: 41 craig@gpu.utcs.utoronto.ca (Craig Hubley) writes: >What if there was already a quite large, totally standardized, universal body >of icons that was guaranteed to uniquely and unambiguously identify any >abstract term or verb we needed? What if it were also possible to form >'icon sentences', again in a relatively standard way, that could be >interpreted as actions, statements, or instructions ? What if one-quarter of >the world's population already knew it ? >Well, it does exist and it's called Chinese. Yes, I know it's been said >before, but I for one would be *very glad* to learn Chinese characters, which >in fact only has to be done once per lifetime, than learn a dozen stupid icons >every time I fire up a new Mac, Sun, or NeXT application. The fact is, it's >*easier* to learn Chinese than do this again, over and over, dozens of times. Great idea -- It'll never catch on. Such a flexible, useful set of icons would be a sure winner to become a standard world language. Standard languages are associated with cultural imperialism. Therefore almost every country on the planet would vehemently oppose it. If a sophisticated but teensy little area such as Europe cannot agree on a single language then what chance do the rest of us have? On the other hand if you are going to restrict yourself to use on computers, then Chinese is probably not the way to go. Why not head for the language which the vast majority of computer users already speak -- English? Thus sending us back to where we started from. Or if you insist on icons why not just issue yet another Standard?. Actually, for all I know, this might be happening. Does anyone know if an ANSI standard set of icons exists? Is such a set planned? If not, should we begin creating a set of standard icons and submit the set to the various standards organisations? (Sorry this posting only goes to comp.cog-eng but the other two groups in the original posting aren't accessible from here) Gary -- Gary Corby (Friend of Elvenkind) Softway Pty Ltd ACSnet: gary@softway.oz UUCP: ...!uunet!softway.oz!gary