If you're so averse to icons then just use text. The use of single characters like !, Q, $, and C seems risky. "!" generally denotes a warning or error - "Q" to me reads as question or query - "$" is money (USD that is) - "C"... speed of light. :)
My point is, single characters tend to already be imbued with meaning, and it could change for different regions, cultures, and personal background. As for your icon aversion, I'm not sure it's well placed. People are really skilled at scanning images. If users are having problem confusing icons with photos on your site there may be something else going on: - The overall layout may be and issue; i.e. no clear distinction between the search results area and the command controls. - The icons may be bad. 12x12 px is quite small. If you doubled that you could have much more descriptive images. Even with all the buttons you've mentioned going with larger icons would only require roughly a 24x150 px area. That's really not that much space, especially given the ever increasing screen resolutions. - Maybe the photos in the search results area are the problem: they are too small, the resolution is bad... Icons are all around us, not just in software but in the real world as well. They can certainly be used effectively. If they are not working in your UI I would not immediately jump to the conclusion that the root of the problem is that icons are being used. There are countless examples of complex, icon laden UIs out there that work well for people. I'm very suspicious of a finding that four icons are crippling the usability of a site. It just sounds like there is probably something more going on. I'd recommend stepping back and looking at the bigger picture. Take the focus off the icon vs symbol debate for a bit and see if the usability problem you are seeing with users might have a different cause. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Posted from the new ixda.org http://www.ixda.org/discuss?post=39598 ________________________________________________________________ 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
