Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!cornell!uw-beaver!uw-june!uw-entropy!dataio!bright
From: bright@Data-IO.COM (Walter Bright)
Newsgroups: comp.lang.c
Subject: Re: Iconitis
Message-ID: <1936@dataio.Data-IO.COM>
Date: 7 Apr 89 21:09:42 GMT
References: <754@oravax.UUCP> <225800146@uxe.cso.uiuc.edu> <9937@smoke.BRL.MIL> <1930@dataio.Data-IO.COM> <10115@megaron.arizona.edu>
Reply-To: bright@dataio.Data-IO.COM (Walter Bright)
Organization: Data I/O Corporation; Redmond, WA
Lines: 29

In article <10115@megaron.arizona.edu> robert@arizona.edu (Robert J. Drabek) writes:
>In article <1930@dataio.Data-IO.COM>, bright@Data-IO.COM (Walter Bright) writes:
<< I've also seen a lot of effort expended to come up with an icon for 'Help'.
<< Those people got mad when I suggested the string 'Help' would do nicely.
<"Help" is just fine as long as you read English.

It's also fine if you don't read English, because it's easily found in
a dictionary. For icons, there is no dictionary, and if there was, what
is the lexicographic order? (P.S. How do the Chinese find their icons
in a dictionary?)

<The reading speed of native Chinese and native English literates is very
<close.  From my observation, the Chinese system may even have a (very)
<slight advantage.

I propose then that the Mac icons be replace with Chinese icons. The
advantages are:
1. A billion people already know it.
2. It's standardized.
3. It can't be copyrighted.
Frankly, what's the difference. I need an idiot card with the icons and what
they mean when I use a Mac, it makes no difference if they were Chinese
icons (and at least I'd learn something I could use elsewhere).

<Want to go to Czechoslovakia and try that [getting by in a resturant]?

I've been to Europe and have gotten by ok with my trusty dictionary. This
technique failed on my trip to Japan 'cuz I couldn't figure out how to use
the Japanese dictionary!