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From: mlwiese@mit.edu
Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac.system
Subject: New control panel icons in 7.0
Message-ID: <1991Apr7.224711.4792@athena.mit.edu>
Date: 7 Apr 91 22:47:11 GMT
Sender: news@athena.mit.edu (News system)
Organization: Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Lines: 35

Warning: Flame ahead

Recent beta versions of 7.0 have new icons for control panels that are small
version of the original icons in a box with a slider on it. See below for crude
picture:

+==========+
| +------+ |
| |      | |   <-- top has small version of original icon
| +------+ |
+----------+
| ---I---- |   <-- bottom has a slider
+==========+

I think this is a lousy idea, for the following reasons:

1) now all the icons are squares, so THEY ALL LOOK THE SAME. The tiny  
   version of the original icon inside the square is, of necessity, crude
   by comparison with the orginal full sized version. In small icon views
   it's practically impossible to tell the icons apart. If you have 7.0bX,
   try renaming the control panel items with random 3 digit #s and
   see how hard it is to find the one you want. What's the point of a GUI
   if you don't make use of the graphics?

2) I suppose the slider is to help the user identify the item as a control
   panel. But normal users, even expert users who aren't developers, do not
   know that "control" has a special meaning, ie check box, button, slider.
			The slider <-> control panel association is NOT intuitive except for 
   developers, and they don't need help identifying control panels. Normal
   users will learn the association, but they will wonder why.

What do you think?

Mike Wiese
mlwiese@eagle.mit.edu