Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!rpi!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!samsung!uunet!ogicse!cadreor!neil From: neil@cadreor.uucp (Neil Van Dyke) Newsgroups: comp.human-factors Subject: Re: Icons &/| text (was Re: Thing ICON) Keywords: wanted - graphical representation for generic objects Message-ID: <1991Jun26.040431.7111@cadreor.uucp> Date: 26 Jun 91 04:04:31 GMT References: <1991Jun18.181536.14156@ux1.cso.uiuc.edu> Organization: SCN Research/QIC Laboratories of Tigard Oregon Lines: 27 In article raveling@Unify.com (Paul Raveling) writes: >In article , prisoner@aix01.aix.rpi.edu (Allen S. >Firstenberg) writes: > >> This is exactly the problem that occurs with _ANY_ interface, but is >> particularly obvious with GUIs - how do you know that your graphical icon >> will mean something to the user. >> >> The answer - as far as I can tell - is that you can't. > >Good point. In surveying interactive design tools (alias user interface >designers) at Xhibition it was obvious that everyone realized icons weren't >enough. A common trend is to show BOTH text and an icon. In some current >work I've been trying to design icons with appropriate text embedded in them. The GUI used by our CASE environment, Teamwork, makes use of textual icons. The text is basically the same as that used for the window title, which helps me associate the icon with the window that it represents. On a tangent, one valuable quality of the GUI is that it is consistent across many platforms -- it looks and behaves *exactly* the same on a SPARCstation 2 as it does on a VAXstation, HP, OS/2 PC, etc. -- Neil W. Van Dyke, Co-op Student, neil@cadreor, (503) 690-1586 Cadre Technologies Inc., Unified CASE Division, Beaverton, Oregon Disclaimer: "I don't get paid enough to speak for my employer."