Hi Chris, There is substantial research on the HFES database on icons and labels. Check out the online search of articles on www.hfes.org (human factors and ergnomic society).
Deborah Mayhew's book on Software user interface guidelines from the early 1990s cites research on icons (and specifically icons with/without text labels) and then extracts practical guidelines from the research (which though data is still quite relevant). You might also search www.hcibib.org which has a monster list of articles. Issues with text and labels: 1. Performance 2. Easy of translation 3. Space 4. Accessibility (the text label can be read by screen readers) 5. International usage 6. Metaphoric understanding 7. Frequency of use (abstract icons that you need once in a while might benefit from a text label -- more direct than a tooltip) 8. The abstractness of your icons Chauncey On Wed, Feb 20, 2008 at 9:28 AM, Chris Whelan <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > I found myself in a bit of a debate over the use of > icons, and would like to be able to cite empirical > data. Unfortunately I haven't located much > literature. Can anyone refer me to research that > compares icons with text buttons? > > > > ____________________________________________________________________________________ > Never miss a thing. Make Yahoo your home page. > http://www.yahoo.com/r/hs > ________________________________________________________________ > Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! > To post to this list ....... [EMAIL PROTECTED] > Unsubscribe ................ http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe > List Guidelines ............ http://www.ixda.org/guidelines > List Help .................. http://www.ixda.org/help > ________________________________________________________________ Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ....... [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe ................ http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines ............ http://www.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .................. http://www.ixda.org/help
