Hi Ian, Apple puts out a document called the "Human Interface Guidelines", or HIG for short. It has rules that all interface developers must follow. When it comes to toolbar icons there is a very short list of standard icons that are provided in the development kit and the rest are created by individual developers. The HIG does place restrictions on the size of the icons, and the format and contrast of the images, but each developer that produces an app is pretty much free to choose icons. Apple polices all apps and will reject an app that is misleading so developers tend to try to make the images suggestive of the task that the button will perform.
The main guide in this area is the powerful set of apps produced by Apple itself -- Number, Pages, Keynote, iMove, iPod, etc. When developers want an idea for an icon they quite often check to see how Apple solved a similar problem. So a subset of icons have become de facto standards for particular tasks. I will put together a list of common icons over the next few days and post back to the group when it is done. I would do it now but I have some pressing preparation to do for classes on Monday and Tuesday. Cheers, Carlo On 2011-09-11, at 21:33, Ian Reid wrote: > Thanks Carlo for the details of Apps mentioned on Tuesday night. I am now > hoping that you can also help me with an iPad matter that I have Googled > unsuccessfully - a list of the meanings of the tiny buttons or graphics at > the head or foot of iPad screens. > > With advancing age, and unfortunately I join the official demographic group > of 'Frail Elderly' in a couple of weeks, short term memory becomes a problem > and I stupidly keep forgetting some of them. I would very much like to have a > cheat-sheet on my desk. > > I assume Apple puts out a list of them for developers. Can I access such a > list. > > Regards > > Ian -- The WA Macintosh User Group Mailing List -- Archives - <http://www.wamug.org.au/mailinglist/archives.shtml> Guidelines - <http://www.wamug.org.au/mailinglist/guidelines.shtml> Unsubscribe - <mailto:wamug-unsubscr...@wamug.org.au>
