On Mon, 30 Jan 2006, Manu Cornet wrote: > Date: Mon, 30 Jan 2006 14:58:38 +0100 > From: Manu Cornet <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > To: [email protected] > Cc: Shaun McCance <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > Subject: Re: [Usability] Save Icon > > > > Hi ! > > > > I completely disagree. Icons in menus reinforce the > > > connection between the action and the icon. It helps > > > you learn the icon, so you can use the icon in the > > > toolbar effectively. > > There are several cases where icons in menus are *extremely* useful. For > example, while using Inkscape, if you want to "Mirror" and object > horizontally, and without menu icons, you're going to scan each line of > text to see which item suits your need. If you have good icons, you > immediately spot the one you need. Same in GIMP for many, many actions > you can perform on an image.
Conversely if you have bad icons (or poor eyesight) or several very simliar icons it can slow you down. A balanced approach is better and clear text labels help avoid the ambiguity of icons. > I remember very clearly that, in this particular situation, I said to > myself "Wow, menu icons are really a strong asset in Linux, over > Windows". And I believe there are countless such cases. I will always think the old Mac OS icons were the best and conceptually clearest icons. High colour systems allow for more detailed realistic looking icons but I think it can be counter productive. Roadsigns tend to be limited to a very small colour palette and the drawings are very stylised to emphasise the concept rather than the specific drawing. But I'm getting way offtopic with all the comments on artwork. - Alan _______________________________________________ Usability mailing list [email protected] http://mail.gnome.org/mailman/listinfo/usability
