[lug] Interest in embedded systems/gui must have icon?

[D. Stimits]

Rob Mohr wrote:
> 
> Beat me down if this is too far off topic or getting off this thread.
> 
> I don't understand the popularity of icons for gui(s).  Is it for people
> who can't read?  And the sector does not have any ANSI or DIN like
> standards, such as the type that exist for fasteners or screw thread
> specs.
> 
> Some icons will use a magnifying glass for zoom.  Others will use that for
> find.  A stamp for email, an envelope for email.  This stuff is nutty.
> What is wrong with text in the middle of a button?  That is what is done
> in aviation cockpits.  (John Deere has used a pix icon of a turtle for
> slow and a rabbit for fast on engine throttles.  They had done this for
> years.  But it strikes me as dorky.  Moving a throttle is explicit, like a
> car's gas pedal.) To me, text is explicit.

This reminds me of a story/joke (yes, it is old skip the joke if you
know it). Someone was out shooting a rancher's cattle for fun, and he
couldn't catch them. So he took a bucket of white paint and placed in
big letters the word "COW" on the side of each cow, making it obvious
these were not deer...it was deer season. He came back the next day, and
his cattle were all alive, but his John Deere tractor was shot full of
holes.

> 
> I just find a small handheld, with a nice form, messing up the function
> when I see icons and text below the icons.  Opera, for example, gives the
> option of just having the text on the button, no silly icon representation.
> eof


My favorite user widgets are those that offer the option to use text, or
icon, or both.

D. Stimits, stimits at idcomm.com

> 
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